The Road to Selection Sunday: Field of 68 Projection -- Gophers Bubbling but Still In

Donate To GopherHole
GopherHole Staff

GopherHole Staff

GopherHole Admin
Staff member
Joined
Nov 3, 2008
Messages
5,172
Reaction score
1,386
Points
113
The Gophers' home loss to Illinois on Thursday pushed them to the bubble for the first time this season, but a nice 62-45 recovery & "M"beatdown of the Hawkeyes on Sunday in Iowa City has kept them on the right side of the bubble. In fact, the more I look at the Gophers' resume and stack it up against the multitude of bubble teams across the nation, the more I'm convinced a 9-9 finish in the Big Ten regular-season standings will land the Gophers safely in the NCAA Tournament field.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1330
 

Penn State not even on the weak bubble?
 

Penn State

A valid point, but I can't get past the 13-11 record with very little to speak of on the nonconference side of things, plus the inability to win away from State College (other than @ IU). A split or sweep of Gophers/@ Wisconsin this week and they'll likely appear next week.
 


GopherHole Staff said:
The Gophers' home loss to Illinois on Thursday pushed them to the bubble for the first time this season, but a nice 62-45 recovery & "M"beatdown of the Hawkeyes on Sunday in Iowa City has kept them on the right side of the bubble. In fact, the more I look at the Gophers' resume and stack it up against the multitude of bubble teams across the nation, the more I'm convinced a 9-9 finish in the Big Ten regular-season standings will land the Gophers safely in the NCAA Tournament field.

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1330
Click to expand...

http://www.kenpom.com/ Gophers jumped up to #38 in KenPom today. Overall SOS rated #9. Projected 20 W by end of regular season.
 


SS, the strong part of the Gophers tournament resume was built when Al Nolen was our point guard - how closely does the Committee look at the loss of a key player when determining a team's tournament worthiness?
 

They'll consider that for sure, but I think moreso for seeding. I'm not worried about is so long as the Gophers get to 9 Big Ten wins. If the Gophers can do that they will have proven they can win games (5.5 if we count Michigan as a half);) without one of their key players.
 

Thanks SS, this is always really helpful. One thing I am getting out of this week's B10 portion is that the rest of the Gophers games are huge, not just for NCAA purposes, but for BTT seeding as well. In fact if they could go 4-1 the rest of the way (and I would hope the loss would be at Northwestern because I would like to beat PSU twice) I think that would guarantee a bye?
 

BTT byes

Yes, the battle for the #4 and #5 seeds at the BTT is one of the most interesting things going on right now. Illinois, Michigan, MSU, the Gophers & Penn State are all in play for the final two byes.

It's a strange year. It's possible 9-9 might get the Gophers (or some other team) a bye. With the loss to Illinois, I think the #5 seed is the more likely best-case scenario for the Gophers. That would be huge not having to play Thursday. For sure it looks like 10-8 will avoid the play-in.
 



I have a hard time believing Utah State gets in as an at large. That awesome 1 win against the top 100 isn't helping. Yet they are ranked. Strange year.
 

Utah State, Wichita State

Those are always the most interesting at-large cases, the Utah States of the world who pile up a lot of wins and a good RPI but don't really beat anyone along the way. UTEP was another team like that last year.

Will be interesting to see if the committee will reward those types of teams more or less with the 3 additional at-large berths available? Wichita State is another team that could fall into that category. The Shockers are 20-5 with a solid RPI of #52 in a decent conference, but who have they beaten?
 

SS,

Do you think MSU has to be 9-9 to get in? What if they are 8-10 and win one game in the tournament?

Thanks.

2/15 @ OhioSt 24-1 (3)
2/19 vs. Ill 16-9 (38)
2/22 @ Minn 17-8 (35)
2/27 vs. Purdue 20-5 (10)
3/2 vs. Iowa 10-15 (148)
3/5 @ Michigan 16-10 (59)
 

Sparty

10-8 (17-12 overall heading into Indy) certainly will garner Sparty a bid. Enough quality wins + strength of schedule.

9-9 with a win at BTT gets them to 17-14 at worst and that still might be enough. Iffy, though.

8-10 + 1 win in Indy. ... I'd be stunned if that's enough.

Note. ... I'm not counting the non-DI win vs. Chaminade.
 



You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom