Gopher NC Sked (updated with Virginia as ACC opponent)

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SelectionSunday

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All set except for the Puerto Rico Tip-Off quarterfinal opponent. Gophers pretty much got the shaft with the announcement of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge pairings. Virginia = yuck, pooey. Our 4th matchup with the 'Hoos in the 12-year history of the Challenge. ... fire up.

Kinda' puts a damper on things when you're given what figures to be (on paper) the worst team in the ACC. Even projected Big Ten bottom-feeders Iowa (@ Wake Forest), Michigan (@ Clemson) & Penn State (home vs. Maryland) drew better opponents than the Gophers.

Final 2009-10 RPI is listed in parentheses.

Home (8)
1. Siena (31)
2. Wofford (69)
3. Akron (89)
4. Buffalo (108)
5. Virginia (127)
6. Eastern Kentucky (155)
7. South Dakota State (234)
8. North Dakota State (268)

Road (1)
1. Saint Joseph's (184)

Neutral (3)
1. Quarterfinals of Puerto Rico Tip-Off: West Virginia (4), Vanderbilt (26), North Carolina (92), Western Kentucky (132), Hofstra (145), Nebraska (149) or Davidson (179)

2. 2nd game of Puerto Rico Tip-Off
3. Final game of Puerto Rico Tip-Off

Current Average RPI of All Nonconference Opponents: 140.555

Current Average RPI of Home Nonconference Opponents: 135.125
 

Wow..drawing Virginia sucks. Are we positive the schedule is set?
 

Nothing official yet from Big Ten or ESPN.com, but I'd say the report from the Indy Star (posted by Gopher07 in another thread) is probably about as close to official as it gets.
 

Terrible. How can they give us the same bottom-feeding opponent 2 cycles in a row? There's zero reason that UVa couldn't play at Penn State while Maryland comes to MN. Instead, those will now both be blowouts probably relegated to ESPNU.

I know MN hasn't been the class of the Big 10 during the course of the challenge, but we've never gotten a game above our 'slot' IMO and we've gotten one below many times. We're somewhere between 5-7 in the Big 10 and should get a similar team from the ACC. Not the worst team in the conference. Thanks a lot Big 10 and ESPN.
 

Good point about Maryland. My interpretation (if these pairings are correct) is the Gophers are getting punished because the organizers want to avoid a rematch (Penn State-Virginia) from last season. My argument would be, punish Virginia and Penn State (they both sucked last year, let them pair up again), don't punish Minnesota.

I can live with Northwestern getting Georgia Tech at home instead of us, but even that, why is Northwestern getting a better and/or more "cache" opponent than the Gophers? We were similar teams last year (split two games) and generally are expected to be similar this year (battling for 5-6-7 spot), but the bottom line is the Gophers went to the NCAA Tournament and NW did not. So why are they getting Georgia Tech while we're stuck with Virginia?
 


PSU and Virginia played last year in the Challenge, as SS said. They could've (and should've) restructured it to give the Gophers a better opponent.

What's a better story - NW going for their first NCAA berth ever or MN going for their 3rd in a row?
 

I would admit Northwestern going for its first NCAA bid is a bigger story. I can accept that. But as you said, find a way to get Minnesota an opponent that isn't expected to be THE bottom-feeder in the ACC next season.
 

SelectionSunday said:
I would admit Northwestern going for its first NCAA bid is a bigger story. I can accept that. But as you said, find a way to get Minnesota an opponent that isn't expected to be THE bottom-feeder in the ACC next season.
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On another board I belong to, a poster has posted his predictions and said we would win by a basket. Would you say that is accurate or not? (not trying to be a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#, just want to get some information I can counter the prediction with)
 

MinnMarchDTF said:
On another board I belong to, a poster has posted his predictions and said we would win by a basket. Would you say that is accurate or not? (not trying to be a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#, just want to get some information I can counter the prediction with)
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Ha. No. UVa is probably going to struggle a LOT in the early part of the season. They weren't good to begin with, and lost a lot of the production they did have to transfers. They will have to play a lot of freshman, so they will get better as the season goes along, but not by November. If the Gophers are at full-strengh I would be disappointed if they don't win by at least 10-15.
 




On the bright side, playing Monday means I don't have to miss any of the games on Tuesday & Wednesday. If we're going to play the crappiest opponent, we might as well play on the crappiest night (when the least amount of people pay attention) and get it over with. Monday is basically the "afterthought" game of the Challenge.
 

Thanks, SS - here is the U of MN release:

Gophers to Host Virginia in 2010 Big Ten/ACC Challenge

The University of Minnesota men’s basketball team will host the University of Virginia in the 12th Annual Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the conferences announced today. The Gophers and Cavaliers will square off on Monday, Nov. 29, at Williams Arena. The time has not been determined.

Minnesota and Virginia have met a total of six times in each school’s history, with the Cavaliers leading the series 3-2 (the 1993 matchup has since been vacated). The Gophers’ last victory came during the 2008 Big Ten/ACC Challenge, a 66-56 triumph at Williams Arena. Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith is 1-1 all-time against the Cavaliers.

The Gophers are 4-7 in the challenge following last season’s 63-58 loss to the University of Miami in Coral Gables. The Michigan State Spartans (5-5) and Wisconsin Badgers (5-6) are the only Big Ten teams with more victories than Minnesota in the 11 years of the challenge. Illinois (4-7), Northwestern (4-7) and Ohio State (4-5) each have four wins followed by Indiana (3-6), Michigan (3-6), Penn State (3-6) and Purdue (3-7) with three and Iowa (2-7) with two. Duke holds the best record at 10-1.

For the sixth consecutive year, the Challenge will feature 11 games and include two telecasts on ESPNU with ESPN and ESPN2 combining to televise the remaining nine games. ESPN3.com, the broadband sports television network from ESPN, will simulcast the ESPN and ESPN2 telecasts.

The Big Ten is the defending Challenge champion, defeating the ACC by a 6-to-5 margin a year ago. Road teams won six of the 11 games in 2009 and seven of the contests were decided by seven points or less, including four games by four points or fewer.

2010 Big Ten/ACC Challenge Schedule (times and networks are TBD)
Monday, Nov. 29 Virginia at Minnesota
Tuesday, Nov. 30 Iowa at Wake Forest
Michigan at Clemson
Ohio State at Florida State
North Carolina at Illinois
Georgia Tech at Northwestern
Wednesday, Dec. 1 Indiana at Boston College
Purdue at Virginia Tech
Michigan State at Duke
North Carolina State at Wisconsin
Maryland at Penn State
 

It's pretty obvious which two games will be the feature games each night:

Ohio State/Florida State (6 p.m.) & North Carolina/Illinois (8 p.m.) on Tuesday;

Purdue/Virginia Tech (6 p.m.) & MSU/Duke (8 p.m.) on Wednesday.

Would guess Iowa/Wake Forest and Maryland/Penn State will be the games shooshed off to ESPNU.
 




No, that was just one of those silly rumors (probably started by Grandpa Sidfart) that pops up every now & then. So far four years in Tubby has proven he's not willing to schedule a home-and-home with a fellow BCS program, though the home schedule is an improvement this season. Until proven otherwise, Gopher fans will get to see non-Big Ten BCS opponents in Minnesota only during seasons the Gophers play at Williams in the Challenge.

4 years, 2 BCS home opponents (both Virginia & both required by the Challenge), no BCS home-and-home arrangements in sight. The beat goes on.
 

SelectionSunday said:
No, that was just one of those silly rumors (probably started by Grandpa Sidfart) that pops up every now & then. So far four years in Tubby has proven he's not willing to schedule a home-and-home with a fellow BCS program, though the home schedule is an improvement this season.
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Perhaps the BCS opponents aren't willing, either.

Home OOC schedule may be a little better but pretty comparable to last season.

The Gophers MUSt improve on 9-3 OOC record, maybe 11-1 (or better) this year.
 

I knew I could count on you, BNOT. For heaven's sake, do you ever come out for air from Tubby's hind quarters?
 

Getting Virginia just plain sucks. Why the heck does Northworstern get Georgia Tech? The ONLY intriguing storyline for playing Virginia is that Ralph's dad played there, so I'm sure they'll be playing that up big time. But yuck.
 



Why not make the game a little more interesting by bringing our captures of war against Virgina out. We captured a flag from virginia during the civil war and never returned it. We are the only state not to return another states captured flag. i remember when jesse Ventura was governor and the governor of virginia asked for the flag back. if i remember right jesse said something like "for the winners go the spoils of war and the losers get to go home and cry about it.' i don't know if this is exact, but i remember jesse essentially called the other state losers and cry babies. With the game not having that much flair maybe we could add some to it. here is more info about the historic minnesota volunteer infantry. (my shift key doesn't work very well so i apolgize to you english majors who get rubbed the wrong way by all of this)


Form wikipedia - under 1st minnesota volunteer infantry - link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Minnesota_Volunteer_Infantry

At gettysburg

'During the chaotic fighting that took place in the repulse of Pickett's Charge, Private Marshall Sherman of Company C of the 1st Minnesota captured the colors of the 28th Virginia Infantry.[2] Private Sherman received the Medal of Honor for his exploit. The flag was taken back to Minnesota as a prize of war and is kept but not publicly displayed at the Minnesota Historical Society. In the mid-1990s, several groups of Virginians threatened to sue the Society to return the 28th Virginia's battle flag to the Old Dominion. However, the Minnesota Attorney General advised that such threats were without a legal basis and the flag remains in the possession of the Society to this day."
 

Perhaps the "lack of respect" continues on this year. Unfortunately that seems to be the mindset of the Big Ten front office. Does anyone have an insight as to where/ how the program stands with the Big Ten management?...low on the totem pole?
 

I don't want to add fuel to the anti-Maturi crowd, but when I saw the breakdown of match-ups my question was 'who is lobbying for the Gophers in the Big 10-ACC pairings?' Not only do we get the predicted dregs of the conference, but isn't this the second time in three years we're playing Virginia? As others have stated, I don't believe we're at the point where we can expect to play the Dukes or UNC's, but as a middle of the pack Big 10 squad, why aren't we seeing the Wake Forest, Maryland, Ga Tech, Clemson, BC pairings. Two years in a row the team has made the field of 64 and two years in a row we've received projected bottom of the ACC teams (albeit, last year didn't work out so well). This with a marquee coach in place! Just doesn't make sense from where I sit and you wonder where the politicking and push for the Gophers is coming from, if at all.
 

So, to review: Tubby has managed to put together a NC schedule that includes the likes of Siena and Wofford as its star attractions. Not exactly the kind of games that you'll be telling your kids about in 20 years.
 

I would guess Iowa State would be willing to sign up for a home and home again with Minnesota, but after we did that a few years back, it sounded like Tubby did not want to do it again. With Fred Hoiberg's ties to Minnesota I think he would love that series and the attendance was decent for both games. Plus, it would give the Gophers a winnable road BCS game.
 

Wow, what a joke. That's absolute crap that we have to play them again.
 

Coolhand....i was thinking the same thing. Most things in life require lobbying...and I'm doubting Maturi opening his yap once during the process. Its a joke. Thankfully, Tubby is scheduling us in big time preseason tournaments to get us some exposure.
 

Cornell?

Sid's now reporting we're playing Cornell (minus 4 seniors from last season's Sweet 16 run) at home this season. That would be our 9th nonconference home game. That would mean Cornell is either replacing someone previously reported on the home schedule (Eastern Kentucky perhaps?), or Saint Joe's' home game vs. the Gophers was bumped to another season.

Or, probably closer to the truth, Sid might be hallucinating again.
 

Great, we play Cornell 2/3 years and the one year we don't play them they make it to the sweet sixteen.

SelectionSunday said:
Sid's now reporting we're playing Cornell (minus 4 seniors from last season's Sweet 16 run) at home this season. That would be our 9th nonconference home game. That would mean Cornell is either replacing someone previously reported on the home schedule (Eastern Kentucky perhaps?), or Saint Joe's' home game vs. the Gophers was bumped to another season.

Or, probably closer to the truth, Sid might be hallucinating again.
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My guess is Cornell will suck next season. They not only lost Wittman, they also lost their two other studs (C Foote & PG Dale) and one other starter. And a new coach to boot.
 

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