POLL: Will UST have a better KenPom ranking than our Gophs at all during the 2022-23 season?

Will UST have a better KenPom ranking than our Gophs at all during the 2022-23 season?

  • Total voters
    63
  • Poll closed .
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Bob_Loblaw said:
Why would I keep telling myself that? I'm a Gopher fan, I went to the U and had season tickets for over a decade (including 8+ years when I didn't even live in MN). I was one of 19 people at the game yesterday. I am actually probably a Gopher football and basketball fan to an unhealthy extent.

I am saying St. Thomas is nipping at our heels because they are. By almost every metric, they are about as good as us. They are closing ground quickly. I realize it's been a short run for Ben, but in that same amount of time, St. Thomas went from playing in the MIAC to having a KenPom ranking similar to ours. If you don't think they're closing ground and nipping at our heels, then I think you just want that to be true.

As far as being "relevant", I guess I don't really know what you mean by that. Is competing for the Summit League Championship relevant? Is making the NCAA tournament relevant? If they are lightyears away from being relevant, when were we last relevant?
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Great post as usual. Do you think if St. Thomas was in the big ten this year they would finish ahead of the Gophers?
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
When compared to the Big Ten? I'm really not trying to defend Ben johnson... I think he was a bad hire and seems to be a below average coach. But the St. Thomas comparisons are just ridiculous.
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I wonder if the if Washington sits around and obsesses with what the University of Seattle's Ken Pom rating is?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Why would I keep telling myself that? I'm a Gopher fan, I went to the U and had season tickets for over a decade (including 8+ years when I didn't even live in MN). I was one of 19 people at the game yesterday. I am actually probably a Gopher football and basketball fan to an unhealthy extent.

I am saying St. Thomas is nipping at our heels because they are. By almost every metric, they are about as good as us. They are closing ground quickly. I realize it's been a short run for Ben, but in that same amount of time, St. Thomas went from playing in the MIAC to having a KenPom ranking similar to ours. If you don't think they're closing ground and nipping at our heels, then I think you just want that to be true.

As far as being "relevant", I guess I don't really know what you mean by that. Is competing for the Summit League Championship relevant? Is making the NCAA tournament relevant? If they are lightyears away from being relevant, when were we last relevant?
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Nipping at our heels to do what, exactly?
 

howeda7 said:
I wonder if the if Washington sits around and obsesses with what the University of Seattle's Ken Pom rating is?
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How many D-1 schools in Washington? Maybe the didn’t when Monson was At Gonzaga. Maybe they should of?
 



Roland Brooks said:
How many D-1 schools in Washington? Maybe the didn’t when Monson was At Gonzaga. Maybe they should of?
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So the one exception of the last 25 years means St Thomas is going to be the next Gonzaga?
 

Did not say that but comparing a state who has had 1 D1 team to a state with multiple might not be the best comparison
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Being the best college basketball team in town.
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No one outside of a few diehards on each side cares if St Thomas has a higher KenPom rating than the worst Gopher team in 30 years.
 

howeda7 said:
So the one exception of the last 25 years means St Thomas is going to be the next Gonzaga?
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The exception is in the actual state you chose to use as your example.

Yes, Washington fans used to obsess over Gonzaga, now Gonzaga has past them.

Also - Cinci fans obsess over Xavier and the Badgers and Marquette have a decent rivalry. We talk about it a lot here because it is so insane that a team in the MIAC two years ago is almost as good as us. But yes, most fans keep track of how good the other teams in their locales are doing.
 



howeda7 said:
No one outside of a few diehards on each side cares if St Thomas has a higher KenPom rating than the worst Gopher team in 30 years.
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Ok. So what? That doesn't mean that they aren't nipping at our heels.

Outside of a few die hards, no one cares about any of this. We are a putrid program that ONLY the die hards care about.
 
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Roland Brooks said:
Did not say that but comparing a state who has had 1 D1 team to a state with multiple might not be the best comparison
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That's exactly the point. The only reason people are obsessing about this is because it's new. They do not rival the Gophers in a significant way for recruits, ticket sales etc. any more than they did before. But it gives the media and fans something new to talk about. In a few years the ocd comparisons will stop.
 

Both programs know exactly what the other program is doing like Nebraska and Creighton do. UST posted their NET ranking on Twitter last week for a reason… they are lower in KenPom then the Gophers… but posted the NET …it goes well beyond a few dudes on this board.. Both Coaches, Both AD’s and recruits all paying attention
 

howeda7 said:
That's exactly the point. The only reason people are obsessing about this is because it's new. They do not rival the Gophers in a significant way for recruits, ticket sales etc. any more than they did before. But it gives the media and fans something new to talk about. In a few years the ocd comparisons will stop.
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I hope they both succeed!
 




howeda7 said:
So the one exception of the last 25 years means St Thomas is going to be the next Gonzaga?
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There are not many examples as Minnesota is such an outlier with only having 1 D1 program until last year. Gonzaga is a good example.
 

As a Gustie I loathe UST but they are well on their way, they are going to become dominant in the Summit and a conference poaching candidate.
 
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MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Or maybe Chicago State thinks they're getting better? Some teams do that. Not ours I guess..
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If by getting better you mean still losing by 11 points (Southern IL) and 14 points to Illinois State in the last ten days, they are really getting better....

Please note that this is not the same Salukis of the mid-to-late 1990s.
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
If by getting better you mean still losing by 11 points (Southern IL) and 14 points to Illinois State in the last ten days, they are really getting better....

Please note that this is not the same Salukis of the mid-to-late 1990s.
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Who has St. Thomas beat with a winning record?
 

MonikerSchmoniker45 said:
Who has St. Thomas beat with a winning record?
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I’ll answer your question with a question of my own…who have the gophers beat with a winning record? (The answer is cal Baptist *and Garcia saved them at the buzzer).

UST beat Milwaukee & Troy …one more win than the gophers against teams with winning records
 

I think that the right analogy might be St. Mary’s of CA. They aren’t really that much in direct competition with Stanford and Cal, and certainly have a much smaller fan base despite being clearly the most successful program in the Bay Area.

However, UST would fit right in with all the catholic schools in metro areas in the Big East. Then it becomes a real issue.
 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
I’ll answer your question with a question of my own…who have the gophers beat with a winning record? (The answer is cal Baptist *and Garcia saved them at the buzzer).

UST beat Milwaukee & Troy …one more win than the gophers against teams with winning records
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Whoa, they beat Troy! If St. Thomas finishes with a winning conference record and the Gophers don't win a couple conference games (very possible) then I'll start to worry.
 



^^^ Oh I forgot...the transfer portal means we dont have to recruit & develop anymore.

I don't know anything about this total new age of basketball where we blast the coach immediately.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Ok. So what? That doesn't mean that they aren't nipping at our heels.

Outside of a few die hards, no one cares about any of this. We are a putrid program that ONLY the die hards care about.
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What do you mean "we" ? You're a Badger backside smoocher.
 

MNJay said:
What do you mean "we" ? You're a Badger backside smoocher.
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Then I should win an award for being in deep cover. I’ve been pretending to be a gopher fan for decades, bought season tickets for over a decade, attended the U, and even went to the game yesterday just to pretend to be a Gopher fan to mock Ben Johnson.

Just so you have this crystal clear, badger fans do not want us to replace Ben Johnson, they like him right where he is.
 


Yeah....and the 2010 Gophers football team (one of the worst in semi recent memory) lost to South Dakota. Wasn't worried about them "nipping" at our heels then....or ever.
 

MNJay said:
Oh sure, fire a coach when his first recruits are freshmen and a 5-star & other good recruits are on the way.

Brilliant !!!
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In the B1G there will be numerous teams with 4 and 5 star talent. You still have to have a head coach with elite ability to win in this league. Pitino made that painfully clear as there were many times he lost when he had better talent on paper. Last year Ben had this team playing very well in the first half of the season. Second half not so much, but most reasonable people understood it was because the team was less athletic than most teams and had no depth. Playing 5 guys 40 minutes each in the BTT was a little wild. This year I am not sure what is going on as the team doesn't seem to have an identity on defense or offense. I hope he coaches next year as good as he did in the first half last year. With the new players we should be very successful in that case.
 

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