Sid has update on Gopher schedule in Canada and exhibition games

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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"The Gophers basketball team will play three preseason games in Canada against Canadian universities -- Sept. 2 at British Columbia, Sept. 3 at Trinity Western and Sept. 5 at Victoria. They will have exhibition games to open the season at home against Northern Oklahoma and Winona State; their non-conference home games are against Wofford, Siena, North Dakota State, Virginia, Cornell, Eastern Kentucky, Akron and South Dakota State."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...EyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI

Go Gophers!!
 




What's the motive behind playing the Canadian schools? Just for a trip? All the prospects (and Joseph, Walker) seem to hail from the Toronto area, so it seems like it would rule out a paypack from recruiting or trying to impress futures. Just curious.
 


fan of Ray Williams said:
What's the motive behind playing the Canadian schools? Just for a trip? All the prospects (and Joseph, Walker) seem to hail from the Toronto area, so it seems like it would rule out a paypack from recruiting or trying to impress futures. Just curious.
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I don't know if there is any real reason behind it, I think maybe its againist NCAA rules to scrimage American teams or something? I recall Penn State did this last year.
 

BleedGopher said:
"The Gophers basketball team will play three preseason games in Canada against Canadian universities -- Sept. 2 at British Columbia, Sept. 3 at Trinity Western and Sept. 5 at Victoria. They will have exhibition games to open the season at home against Northern Oklahoma and Winona State; their non-conference home games are against Wofford, Siena, North Dakota State, Virginia, Cornell, Eastern Kentucky, Akron and South Dakota State."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/g...EyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I like the idea of playing in Canada- great for Joseph and Walker. However, the schedule for the
4th consecutive Tubby year and through most of the Monson years is flat out horrible as a value for a season ticket holder. I'm getting tired of this. It's getting tougher and tougher each year to justify blowing $1100 to not see a meaningful game until January.
 


Teams are allowed to take a "foreign" trip every three or four years. The benefit of the trip from a basketball perspective is that the team gets a few practices before going on the trip.

While rules allow some small group activity between the beginning of the school year and the beginning of practice beginning, the practices before this trip and the three games provide much greater opportunities for teaching, learning, gaining experience.

The trip will give new guys an opportunity to see what college basketball is like and will show them quickly where the holes are in their game and what playing for Tubby is like in terms of expectations and routines and the like. I would expect the Gophers to have little trouble winning the games, but there is benefit in playing against different teams and with real refs. It also allows Tubby a chance to experiment with lineups, combinations, positions without it counting.

As far as this being a homecoming for Devoe, etc., it's not exactly the case. They are going to British Columbia and those guys are from the Toronto area. That would be like playing at Washington and calling it a "homecoming" game for Colton.
 



anonymous said:
Teams are allowed to take a "foreign" trip every three or four years. The benefit of the trip from a basketball perspective is that the team gets a few practices before going on the trip.

While rules allow some small group activity between the beginning of the school year and the beginning of practice beginning, the practices before this trip and the three games provide much greater opportunities for teaching, learning, gaining experience.

The trip will give new guys an opportunity to see what college basketball is like and will show them quickly where the holes are in their game and what playing for Tubby is like in terms of expectations and routines and the like. I would expect the Gophers to have little trouble winning the games, but there is benefit in playing against different teams and with real refs. It also allows Tubby a chance to experiment with lineups, combinations, positions without it counting.

As far as this being a homecoming for Devoe, etc., it's not exactly the case. They are going to British Columbia and those guys are from the Toronto area. That would be like playing at Washington and calling it a "homecoming" game for Colton.
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Teams playing Canadian exhibitions get 2 extra weeks of practice.
 


I will say that the non-conference schedule is slightly improved, but all of these stats still hold true:

The last time the Gophers hosted a BCS school other than in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge was in 06-07 when they hosted Iowa State and Arizona State (along with Clemson in the ACC/Big Ten).

That means Tubby has never scheduled a home game against a BCS league school by choice.

The last time the Gophers hosted a school of note (BCS plus CUSA/A10/Mountain West/Valley) that ended up being a tournament team was UAB in 2005-06.

The last time the Gophers hosted a BCS school that ended up being a tournament team was Oregon in 2001-02.
 

Big Ten home games vs. major conferences since 2007-08 season

This includes the upcoming ACC/Big Ten Challenge but not any other confirmed games for 2010-11 (i.e. Iowa hosts Iowa State; Michigan hosts Kansas; Michigan State hosts South Carolina & Texas; and Purdue hosts Alabama).

Of note, excluding ACC Challenge games, Minnesota is the only school yet to host a nonconference opponent from the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Pac 10 or SEC.

WISCONSIN (7)
Colorado (2007-08)
Georgia (2007-08)
Marquette (2007-08)
Texas (2008-09)
**Duke (2009-10)
Marquette (2009-10)
**NC State (2010-11)

INDIANA (5)
Connecticut (2007-08)
**Georgia Tech (2007-08)
Kentucky (2007-08)
Kentucky (2009-10)
**Maryland (2009-10)

MICHIGAN (5)
**Boston College (2007-08)
UCLA (2007-08)
Duke (2008-09)
**Boston College (2009-10)
Connecticut (2009-10)

NORTHWESTERN (5)
Stanford (2007-08)
DePaul (2008-09)
**Florida State (2008-09)
Stanford (2009-10)
**Georgia Tech (2010-11)

OHIO STATE (4)
Florida (2007-08)
**North Carolina (2007-08)
West Virginia (2008-09)
**Florida State (2009-10)

PENN STATE (4)
Seton Hall (2007-08)
**Virginia Tech (2007-08)
Virginia Tech (2009-10)
**Maryland (2010-11)

ILLINOIS (3)
**Clemson (2008-09)
Vanderbilt (2009-10)
**North Carolina (2010-11)

IOWA (3)
**Wake Forest (2007-08)
Iowa State (2008-09)
**Virginia Tech (2009-10)

PURDUE (3)
**Duke (2008-09)
**Wake Forest (2009-10)
West Virginia (2009-10)

MICHIGAN STATE (2)
**NC State (2007-08)
Kansas (2008-09)

MINNESOTA (2)
**Virginia (2008-09)
**Virginia (2010-11)

**denotes ACC/Big Ten Challenge

I agree with Anonymous. The NC home sked is improved. Wofford, Siena and Akron should be pretty decent. Just kind of a bummer that Virginia is our "marquee" opponent.
 



I want to see us get a big game on the schedule ala Duke/Wisconsin last year in Wisconsin. I have a Badger friend who said the buzz around that game was unbelievable, with student tix going for over $100. If we win, it's huge for us (just like it was for the Badgers), if we lose, at least the fans get to see a national powerhouse.
 

Canada

Not sure why they are going to BC. Ontario would seem a better place for recruiting. University Basketball in BC is mildly better and it is a nice place to visit but all of the big time Canadian recruits are coming out of Toronto. UBC was a national finalist last year.

My belief is that Canadian university teams are low quality D-2. When I was in school, the University of Winnipeg (in a year they made it to the final eight) lost by 30 or so to Weber State.
 

Interesting, Kentucky just announced 3 games in Canada in August.

http://bit.ly/aH8fSQ

The Wildcats will kick off the trip on Aug. 15 against the University of Windsor at 7:00 p.m. ET, followed by a 6:00 p.m. ET match-up against the Western Mustangs on Aug. 16. UK will close with an 11:00 a.m. ET rematch against Windsor on Aug. 17, with all three games being played at the St. Denis Centre in Windsor.

Kentucky will have a significantly different look this season, losing eight players (five to the NBA Draft and three to graduation) from last season's 35-3 team that won the SEC regular season and tournament championships, while making a run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament.

On display for the Wildcats will be the nation's top-ranked recruiting class as announced by ESPN Recruiting, Rivals.com and Scout.com. The class includes freshmen Terrence Jones, Enes Kanter, Brandon Knight, Doron Lamb, Stacey Poole Jr. and junior college transfer Eloy Vargas.

"This is a unique opportunity for our program to spread the Big Blue Nation's mist into Ontario, Canada," said UK Coach John Calipari. "What it does for our young team is immeasurable as far as helping us all get to know each other. We're looking forward to it and we're anxious to share this special trip with our fans north of the border."
 

"This is a unique opportunity for our program to spread the Big Blue Nation's mist into Ontario, Canada," said UK Coach John Calipari.

I pretty much don't like or dislike Calipari, but man, nauseating line. I'd imagine someone wrote it for him. Bad.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
What's the motive behind playing the Canadian schools? Just for a trip? All the prospects (and Joseph, Walker) seem to hail from the Toronto area, so it seems like it would rule out a paypack from recruiting or trying to impress futures. Just curious.
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We did this in 2005-2006 and it really paid off that season. It gave us 10 extra practices which really helped our freshman(Woodside and Co) get off to a solid start in their first season.
 

That is a poor excuse for a home NC schedule. Why can we not schedule at least one major conference opponent per year?
 

Winnipegopher said:
Not sure why they are going to BC. Ontario would seem a better place for recruiting. University Basketball in BC is mildly better and it is a nice place to visit but all of the big time Canadian recruits are coming out of Toronto. UBC was a national finalist last year.

My belief is that Canadian university teams are low quality D-2. When I was in school, the University of Winnipeg (in a year they made it to the final eight) lost by 30 or so to Weber State.
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Because there are excellent recruitment opportunities in Canada. Corey Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Devoe, and there is at least one 5 point guard recruit out of Toronto.

It's the added visibility playing the Canadian teams that benefit those D-1 schools seeking to recruit the Canadian kids.
 

The other angle in this day and age is the foreign trip to Canada is much more affordable than going to Italy or Spain or France the way teams used to do it (some still do). You get to do a foreign trip once every four years. I believe this is the first year that the NCAA will allow incoming freshman to go on these type of trips. So, a trip to British Columbia is a great cultural experience, the guys get to see a beautiful part of the world, they get to play some hoops, do some bonding, and do it much more affordably than going overseas.
 

MinneMike said:
Because there are excellent recruitment opportunities in Canada. Corey Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Devoe, and there is at least one 5 point guard recruit out of Toronto.

It's the added visibility playing the Canadian teams that benefit those D-1 schools seeking to recruit the Canadian kids.
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There is zero visibility in Toronto if you play in BC. It is similar to going to LA to recruit New York.

Maybe Tubby thinks BC is about to explode with talent. More likely, though, is he wants the team to visit a beautiful part of the world.
 

Yeah, I would agree with the beautiful part of Canada aspect. Vancouver and Victoria and a heck of a lot better than Toronto and Missasauga. However, recruiting wise, best to go to TO and Missasauga area, and then follow them south to the states where they'll play for a prep team.
 

I like the home schedule. Overall the strength is lacking, but I personally think these are some interesting mid major opponents. Akron is a very uunderrated team from the MAC (we should handle them still). It should make for an interesting game (their head coach coached LeBron James during LeBron's first two years of high school). then Wofford is a ncaa tourney team from last year that gave the badgers a heck of a game. siena also made the tourney last year,but had a poor game against purdue. Cornell was in the sweet 16 last year (but lost 4 of its 5 starters). Then ndsu is (supposively) improved from last year. but all the other games are going to be laughers (as could the other ones), so although its disappointing to see alot of non BCS schools on the schedule, I believe a few of these games could turn out interesting, but should all be won.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
What's the motive behind playing the Canadian schools? Just for a trip? All the prospects (and Joseph, Walker) seem to hail from the Toronto area, so it seems like it would rule out a paypack from recruiting or trying to impress futures. Just curious.
Click to expand...

A great treat for the team. No place in the world more beautiful than British Columbia. Ofcourse, they will also be getting a jump on the season.

Wonder if anyone will be organizing a Labor Day trip?
 

As far as the exhibition games go, I like playing the in-state D-II schools, it gives the games more local interest. Northern Oklahoma might be a decent team, but I don't think it will hold as much interest as a local team would.

I don't know what level of play Canadian basketball is, but losing by 30 to Weber State doesn't mean they are the equivalent of a low D-II team. Weber State may not be great, but they are D-I, a low D-II team would probably do a whole lot worse than a 30 point loss.
 

Perhaps, I do think Canadian basketball is better than it used to be.

Somewhat selfishly, I think the Gophers should play in Winnipeg. Easy direct flight and Winnipeg is a potential large market for fans. Two universities in town to play. If I were more of an entrepeuner, I would set up bus tours to Gopher football and basketball games. There are five or six busloads at every Vikings game and yet nothing for the Gophers.
 

Good point, it would do us well if we can get people in Manitoba to have a positive attitude toward the Gophers. I know Bemidji State has been playing Manitoba in hockey exhibition games for quite a while.
 

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