Gopher Basketball
Broback finished with 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists. McCarville finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The vaunted Gopher defense, which allowed only 35 points in the previous game against Indiana, was porous in allowing 41 1st half points to the hot-shooting Wildcats. The 15th-ranked Gophers (22-6) now head to Indianapolis for this weekend’s Big 10 tourney.
Conference Tourney. As the Conference’s 4th place team, the Gophers will open against 5th place Purdue about 1:30 p.m. on Friday. The Gophers have already defeated Purdue twice this year, both times handily. Minnesota has already locked up its 4th straight NCAA tourney appearance. Purdue is also a probably NCAA tourney participant.
Going into the Big 10 tourney, the Gophers are a probable 4th seed in the NCAA tourney. A loss to Purdue could drop them to a 5th seed. The Gophers would probably have to win the Big 10 tourney to move to a 3rd seed in the NCAA tourney. If the Gophers win against Purdue on Friday, their likely opponent would be Big 10 co-champ Ohio State on Saturday.
Although seedings are always important for the NCAA tourney, they’re not as important as they might seem, especially for the Gophers. The Gophers play their 1st NCAA tourney game in Williams Arena, and a 2nd also if they win their 1st NCAA tourney game. Last year, the Gophers went into the NCAA tourney as a 7th seed, and won 2 home games to advance to the Sweet Sixteen before eventually advancing to the Final Four.
Notes and Observations:
- This was a year of the Haves and Have Nots in the Big 10 and we can expect more of the same in this weekend’s conference tournament. I’m not expecting any major upsets. Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, Minnesota, and Purdue have already earned spots in the NCAA tourney. 6th place Iowa is also probably an NCAA participant, unless they lose their 1st Big 10 tourney game to lowly Michigan. Expect Ohio State or Michigan State to win the Big 10 tourney.
- If I were the King of Big 10 Basketball, I’d do away with the women’s conference tournament. Gopher fans did not get the chance to see Big 10 powers Ohio State and Penn State visit Williams Arena this year because of an unbalanced schedule and the Big 10 tourney. I’d rather see an additional home game or 2 before large crowds at Williams or other conference venues instead of an additional game or 2 with sparsely-attended conference tourney games. Although the teams at the bottom of the conference standings might think they have a chance to earn a berth in the NCAA tourney field by winning the tournament, what’s the likelihood of a bottom-tier team winning 4 games in 4 days, many against the conference’s best teams? It can happen…a 2nd division Iowa team won 4 games in the Big 10 men’s tourney a number of years ago to clinch an NCAA tourney berth, but there’s currently a bigger split between 1st- and 2nd-tier Big 10 women’s basketball teams and I’d rather see an extra home game or 2.
- Predictions Revisited. Before the Conference schedule began, I predicted the order of finish for each conference team. Here’s how I fared:
My Predictions Actual Standings 1. Ohio State 1. Ohio State 2. Michigan State 1. Michigan State (tie) 3. Purdue 3. Penn State 4. Penn State 4. Minnesota 5. Minnesota 5. Purdue 6. Iowa 6. Iowa 7. Illinois 7. Illinois 8. Michigan 8. Wisconsin 9. Indiana 9. Indiana 10. Wisconsin 10. Northwestern 11. Northwestern 11. Michigan Although I was fairly accurate with my predictions, I was surprised that Purdue didn’t finish higher. Their heralded sophomores weren’t as good as they were supposed to be. I was also surprised that Michigan was as bad as it was. Finally, Penn State was better than I thought they’d be. The Gophers…I picked them to finish 5th and they finished 4th. They beat all the teams that they were supposed to beat this year, but they didn’t beat any of the teams that finished above them in the conference standings.
Talk about the Women’s Big Ten Tourney on our Gopher Basketball message board.