Preview: Gophers vs. NDSU

Well, it ain’t Wisconsin or Iowa, but North Dakota does border us, so I guess that makes tonight’s season opener a rivalry game. True, the Gophers and North Dakota State Bison haven’t played in 19 years, and Minnesota holds a decisive 20-1 advantage in the series, but this is still an interesting way to start the regular season.

Now that they’re in the process of becoming a full-fledged Division 1 program, you can expect to see this match-up on a pretty regular basis in the future, so maybe a rivalry will develop after all. The Bison roster does have 8 Minnesotans on it, and junior college transfer Andre Smith (a Como Park grad) has already gone on the record as saying he’ll be pumped up tonight (for the added reason that Minnesota recruited him last year but didn’t offer him a scholarship).

Emotions aside though, these aren’t two evenly matched teams. NDSU will have some guys with skills and some guys with athleticism, but they won’t have the combination of the two that most Gopher players have. So as is often the case in the nonconference schedule, it will largely be up to Minnesota to determine the margin of victory. If they want to play hard and win big, they should be able to ““ barring a cold night from the field and a red-hot Bison team.

Here are my Gopher Keys of the Game:

1. Post. Minnesota has not gotten much offense out of the post yet, and that doesn’t figure to be a strength all season, but it would be nice to see them go to it consistently tonight. Spencer Tollackson and Jonathan Williams will have a physical advantage inside, Dan Coleman should have a significant height advantage, and we’ll also hopefully continue to see Vincent Grier and Moe Hargrow get some opportunities on the block.

2. Push It. The Gophers got a lot of points in transition against inferior teams; they would basically throw a Hail Mary to Grier and let him do his thing. This year’s transition ability should be just as good or better (at least once Rico Tucker returns), so the Gophers need to make an effort to turn every rebound and steal into an up-tempo offensive attack. If it’s not there, you can set up the offense, but always head up the floor looking to score.

3. Rhythm. The big Maryland game is less than two weeks away, so there’s no time like the present to start getting a regular rotation set and getting everybody on the same page. While there are plenty of new faces on the team, guys like Hargrow and Adam Boone aren’t exactly newcomers, so it shouldn’t take too long. But the rhythm we need on both ends of the court was not there in the two exhibition games.

The true border battle comes on the gridiron tomorrow against Iowa, which is a more difficult game to predict. A Gopher win tonight shouldn’t be. What fans will be looking for though is a dominating performance to show that the team is ready for the games that count. I’m not sure if we’ll see that or not. My prediction: Minnesota 74 NDSU 60.

Talk about the game on our Gopher Basketball message board.