Gopher Basketball
Streams of Consciousness
(1) It’s tired and it’s cliche, but it’s still true. Never turn down a road victory, whether it’s in the Big Ten, ACC, Big East, Big 12, Pac 10, SEC or any other conference. A yeoman’s performance by the Gophers in Ann Arbor on Saturday, absent Nolen and his bum ankle in the second half. Always a relief to get that first (Big Ten) road win out of the way, especially when it occurs before your conference home loss (assuming there is one). With or without Nolen, the Gophers need to find a way to start putting the final dagger in Northwestern’s slim NCAA hopes on Wednesday. Yesterday the Wildcats started an important 4-game stretch — Wisconsin, @ Minnesota, Ohio State, Illinois — with an embarrassing 78-46 rout at the hands of the Badgers. With nary a quality win on their resume, heading into that stretch I felt the Wildcats needed to win at least two of the four and perhaps even three to announce themselves as a legitimate NCAA at-large candidate. Wednesday night at The Barn is all about Big Ten pecking order, and the Gophers can clearly separate themselves from Northwestern with a win, however it would come, however it would look, with or without Nolen’s bum wheel.
(2) Butler is in jeopardy of not making the NCAA after last year’s run to the championship game (see Milwaukee’s season sweep of the Bulldogs), but it’s certainly not the fault of senior center/forward Matt Howard. If there’s an award for the “Most Effective Player in the Country Not Looking the Part”, I’d give the honor to Howard. The way Howard plays doesn’t look pretty, but he gets the job done.
(3) A name to watch? Winona’s Alec Brown is already raising eyebrows as a 7-1 freshman center for Green Bay. Brown had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in the Phoenix’s 63-61 road win over Horizon League co-leader Valpo. In 19 games, the 215-pound string-bean is averaging 9.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg and 2.1 bpg.
(4) Another Minnesota kid had himself a monster game over the weekend. In the Mid-American Conference, Northfield’s Zach Filzen notched a career-high 23 points in Buffalo’s 73-68 come-from-behind road win over Ohio U. The Bulls trailed 43-25 before Filzen scored 20 of his 23 points after halftime. It was Buffalo’s largest second-half comeback on the road in the team’s history in the MAC.
(5) I know I’m getting old and have been following college basketball for a long time when I see Gene Bartow’s son Murray (East Tennessee State) and Wimp Sanderson’s son Scott (Lipscomb) coaching against one another in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Seems like just yesterday I was watching Gene coach at UAB and Wimp (and his plaid suit coats) at Alabama.
(6) The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) will be fortunate if it gets two teams into the NCAA Tournament, but the team(s) that makes it likely will be a handful for its first-round opponent. George Mason (#31 in the RPI), Old Dominion (#33), VCU (#54), James Madison (#72) and maybe even Hofstra (#105) all have the look of a #12-13 seed that could knock off one of the big boys.
(7) A couple of the Gophers’ nonconference opponents have gotten hot of late. Eastern Kentucky (#242), by RPI the Gophers’ third-worst nonconference opponent, is making a move up the Ohio Valley standings. The Colonels (9-9, 5-4 OVC) have won four straight (all on the road) including Saturday’s upset of Morehead State, ending MSU’s 24-game home winning streak. Also, Wofford has found its stride after playing a brutal nonconference schedule. The Terriers (10-9, 7-1 Southern South) have won four straight, including an 88-56 rout of previously unbeaten (in the SoCon) Chattanooga.
(8) Another team that has won 4 straight is Loyola (Maryland), which has an assistant coach by the name of G.G. Smith. If the name sounds familiar, it should. G.G. is Tubby’s son and played for him at Georgia. Think there’s any chance Tubby will schedule Loyola in the near future? Probably not, as generally speaking coaches don’t like to schedule games vs. close coaching friends or, in this case, family.
(9) Looking for a potential bid-stealer come Championship Week? Nevada (6-13, 4-3 WAC, #211 in RPI) got off to an awful start, but is showing signs of life since 6-7 forward/Duke transfer Olek Czyz became eligible. Czyz is averaging 13.8 ppg and 5.4 rpg while shooting 44% from three-point territory. The Wolfpack also has Indiana transfer Malik Story averaging 13.4 ppg and 3.5 rpg. If anyone knocks off Utah State in the WAC Tournament, it’s likely to be Nevada.
(10) Here’s our updated Big Ten Tournament bracket, through games played Sunday, January 23.
Thursday, March 10
1:30 p.m. — #8 Northwestern (3-5) vs. #9 Iowa (1-6)
3:55 p.m. — #7 Penn State (3-4) vs. #10 Indiana (1-6)
6:30 p.m. — #6 GOPHERS (4-3) vs. #11 Michigan (1-6)
Friday, March 11
11 a.m. — #1 Ohio State (7-0) vs. Northwestern/Iowa winner
1:25 p.m. — #4 Illinois (4-3) vs. #5 Michigan State (4-3)
5:30 p.m. — #2 Purdue (6-1) vs. Penn State/Indiana winner
7:55 p.m. — #3 Wisconsin (5-2) vs. GOPHERS/Michigan winner
You’ve Got Mail
From the Buzz Clips mailbag. …
Question: I’d love for you to comment on one of the craziest streaks in sports. That would be Clemson never having won in Chapel Hill against UNC. 55 games. 55 losses. The last coming last week. I understand UNC is an historically elite program but Clemson has had some good, competitive teams over the year while UNC has had a handful of down years. I certainly wouldn’t expect Clemson to have close to a .500 record in Chapel Hill but never beating UNC on the road? Ever? Seriously? 55 games? It’s one strange streak that I would love if you could put into perspective. — Pewterschmidt —
Answer: That is an amazing streak, for sure. You know what they say, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while, but apparently that doesn’t apply to Clemson’s heebie-jeebies in Chapel Hill. Here’s the simplest way I would put it in perspective.
I would consider Clemson and Minnesota very similar over the last 15 seasons, solid but not great programs (Gophers’ vacated Final Four appearance notwithstanding). I think most of us would agree that historically the Gophers are not exactly known for being road warriors. But even so, to put UNC’s Chapel Hill dominance over Clemson in perspective, consider this. … in three-plus years Tubby has won at every opposing Big Ten venue except for Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue. Of those three, the Gophers had recent wins at Ohio State & Purdue (2005), Dan Monson’s NCAA-qualifying season at Minnesota. Really, it’s only a win at the Breslin Center that must seem like a long, long time ago for Gopher fans. The Gophers last won in East Lansing in 1997, their Final Four season.
Question: Is Butler deserving of an at-large bid? I know their RPI is pretty decent, but they don’t really have a signature win. — DontHassleTheHoff —
Answer: Two days ago I would have definitely said yes, but after Sunday’s overtime home loss to Milwaukee I think the Bulldogs’ at-large chances are now in peril. Even if your name is Butler, losing three games in the Horizon League and getting swept by Milwaukee is not a way to curry favor with the Selection Committee. However, I believe the Bulldogs are still solidly in the mix for an at-large bid. I agree that the Bulldogs (#41 in the RPI) don’t have a signature win, but there are some solid wins on their resume. … Florida State (#46) and Wazzu (#69) on a neutral floor and Cleveland State (#32) at Hinkle Fieldhouse. That’s something the Bulldogs can work with, but they can’t afford many more (if any) slip-ups in conference play.
Question: Many of the naysayers suggest that our beloved Rodents’ victories over UNC and WVU “won’t look that good” come selection Sunday, especially after a (WVU) loss to something like Marshall. I see in your recent list that WVU and UNC are #14 and #20 respectively, in Jerry Palm’s RPI. Is it possible either one of them could drop so far as to take them off the top 100, or even 50 in the RPI? Neither one is likely to make the Final Four, but it would seem only a major catastrophe could drop them to a level that would not make these wins significant come March 13. Comments with data would be interesting. — Holy Man —
Answer: I agree that neither West Virginia or North Carolina is Final Four material, but I’m very confident both will end up in the NCAA Tournament and both will be considered quality wins by the Selection Committee once March 13 (Selection Sunday) arrives. I expect both to lose 5 or 6 more games, but I think both will remain in the top 50 of the RPI — moreso WVU than UNC — all season long. At worst, I see West Virginia finishing the regular season 18-12, 9-9 in the Big East and North Carolina finishing 19-11, 9-7 in the ACC. I think that’s being conservative.
Question: If you were putting your life on the line and giving a coach one month to prepare a team for the NCAA tourney, who are the top five guys you’d pick to lead your team to the promised land? Even though retired, you can put Dick Bennett and Mr. Knight in the mix. — DoubleDog —
Answer: I’ll assume two things. #1 you’re a Badger fan and #2 you’re referring to Bob Knight and not his son Pat!
Interesting question. I’ll try not to limit myself to just the big-name coaches, but here are five (in alphabetical order) I’d trust to wade me through the NCAA Tournament waters, all things (talent) being equal:
Tim Floyd (UTEP)
Tom Izzo (Michigan State)
Coach K (Duke)
Lorenzo Romar (Washington)
Gary Waters (Cleveland State)
Remember, please submit mailbag questions to my GopherHole PM. From here forward I will not answer questions posed within a thread on GH. Thanks, and bye for now.