Otis
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All this coach evaluation talk made me ask myself this question.
It seems on the surface that making a bowl game is pretty easy since it takes only 6 wins to qualify. That with a schedule including 3 relative cupcake games (usually at home) against near non-competitive teams. Which means you only need 3 conference wins to qualify. A 3-6 record is pretty much a back into the bowl method.
And a bowl victory outside of the playoff has lost a ton of street cred.
However, Fleck has made going to bowls a near certainty! Here at Minny, he has made it to bowls 6 out of 8 years winning all 6. Before that he made it to 3 out of 4 at Western Michigan.
Look back at the desert of bowl games we had before PJ. The Gophers have played in 25 bowls total and Glen Mason took us to 7. No other coach has more than 3.
What’s it take to make the NCAAs?
Let’s say it takes a minimum of 20 wins to be on the bubble and 22 wins to make it.
Is that hard? Well, you get to play 11 or 12 non-conference games at home mostly or at a neutral site against colleges most of us wouldn’t know existed if not for basketball. You need to schedule some decent teams if you want to make the tourney but you also need to win around ten of these games. However it isn’t unusual to win all of them if you really unpack the schedule.
That means you have to win around ten games out of 20 in the B1G. .500 ball. This has happened 3 times in the last 20 years! All those teams made the tourney.
I’d like to say basketball is harder and maybe it means more to make the NCAAs than to go to the Pinstripe Bowl.
It’s more fun going to 6 bowls in 8 years and winning than going to 5 NCAAs in 20 years.
It seems on the surface that making a bowl game is pretty easy since it takes only 6 wins to qualify. That with a schedule including 3 relative cupcake games (usually at home) against near non-competitive teams. Which means you only need 3 conference wins to qualify. A 3-6 record is pretty much a back into the bowl method.
And a bowl victory outside of the playoff has lost a ton of street cred.
However, Fleck has made going to bowls a near certainty! Here at Minny, he has made it to bowls 6 out of 8 years winning all 6. Before that he made it to 3 out of 4 at Western Michigan.
Look back at the desert of bowl games we had before PJ. The Gophers have played in 25 bowls total and Glen Mason took us to 7. No other coach has more than 3.
What’s it take to make the NCAAs?
Let’s say it takes a minimum of 20 wins to be on the bubble and 22 wins to make it.
Is that hard? Well, you get to play 11 or 12 non-conference games at home mostly or at a neutral site against colleges most of us wouldn’t know existed if not for basketball. You need to schedule some decent teams if you want to make the tourney but you also need to win around ten of these games. However it isn’t unusual to win all of them if you really unpack the schedule.
That means you have to win around ten games out of 20 in the B1G. .500 ball. This has happened 3 times in the last 20 years! All those teams made the tourney.
I’d like to say basketball is harder and maybe it means more to make the NCAAs than to go to the Pinstripe Bowl.
It’s more fun going to 6 bowls in 8 years and winning than going to 5 NCAAs in 20 years.
