Which non-Big Ten home game do you find most appealing?

Probably in the minority, but I think Joe & Tubby have put together a serviceable home schedule this season. ... and this is coming from someone who annually has whined about Tubby's shamelessly poor November-December plate served at The Barn. For now, I'll save my comments about the unwillingness to schedule a BCS program at home (other than the required ACC game) for another day.

I'm OK with this home slate; the names won't knock anyone's socks off, but I think the schedule will prove to be infinitely more interesting (read: competitive) than anything Tubby & Esposito have served up in Years 1-3. I don't expect to witness blowout after blowout like we saw last year. I see 4 games where the Gophers could legitimately get tested; Akron, Siena, Virginia and Wofford. If half of the nonconference home games are even mildly competitive, I'd call it a success. And if you want to add the "regional" aspect, playing NDSU and SDSU is a good thing, too.

To that end, which November-December game (if any) are you looking forward to the most?

1. Akron (Wednesday, Dec. 15)
2. Cornell
3. Eastern Kentucky
4. North Dakota State
5. Siena (Monday, Nov. 15)
6. South Dakota State
7. Virginia (Monday, Nov. 29)
8. Wofford (Friday, Nov. 12 or Saturday, Nov. 13, regular season opener)

I'm gonna' go with Akron. The Zips have been very solid the last six seasons (with a RPI ranging anywhere from 67 to 99) and will be one of the favorites in the MAC. If the Gophers are going to get clipped unexpectedly at home, this is where I expect it to happen.

Wofford, after watching HP league you can tell Wofford will be a good team.

I saw that Cam Rundles is playing in Pulley League. Is Noah Dahlman playing?

It's cliche, but I most look forward to the UVa game. I'm not sure it'll be a great game in November, but it could be decent and will probably look better on paper in March then it does at gametime.

SelectionSunday said:

Probably in the minority, but I think Joe & Tubby have put together a serviceable home schedule this season. ... and this is coming from someone who annually has whined about Tubby's shamelessly poor November-December plate served at The Barn. For now, I'll save my comments about the unwillingness to schedule a BCS program at home (other than the required ACC game) for another day.

I'm OK with this home slate; the names won't knock anyone's socks off, but I think the schedule will prove to be infinitely more interesting than anything Tubby & Esposito have served up in Years 1-3. I don't expect to witness blowout after blowout like we saw last year. I see 4 games where the Gophers could legitimately get tested; Akron, Siena, Virginia and Wofford. If half of the nonconference games are even mildly competitive, I'd call it a success. And if you want to add the "regional" aspect, playing NDSU and SDSU is a good thing, too.

To that end, which November-December game (if any) are you looking forward to the most?

1. Akron (Wednesday, Dec. 15)
2. Cornell
3. Eastern Kentucky
4. North Dakota State
5. Siena (Monday, Nov. 15)
6. South Dakota State
7. Virginia (Monday, Nov. 29)
8. Wofford (Friday, Nov. 12 or Saturday, Nov. 13, regular season opener)

I'm gonna' go with Akron. The Zips have been very solid the last six seasons (with a RPI ranging anywhere from 67 to 99) and will be one of the favorites in the MAC. If the Gophers are going to get clipped unexpectedly at home, this is where I expect it to happen.

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I'd vote for Virginia. I think Bennett will do a nice job of coaching there.

A decent OOC schedule has 5 or 6 teams who are NCAA invitees that (same) year. Hopefully you win 4 or 5 of those games.

Wofford. Decent team and nice local connection.

I am a big advocate of games like Akron, too. The names are not going to mean much to the casual observer, but I think the heart of a quality schedule is not scheduling top 20 RPI teams but avoiding bottom 100 and including the 75-125 types. We may have as many as four of those this year (not sure about Sienna or Cornell), which I am okay with.

Someday, one of the big boys will play us at the Barn in December, though.

confused

Which Gopher team are we talking about? I am both confused and excited. Are we talking about a Gopher team with Trevor and Al or without them? Does Mr. White wind up at Kentucky or does he stay at home?

This could be a team that could potentially be a top 10 team or it could be a team struggling to win 20 games and make it back in to the NCAA's. The fact is that none of us know for sure. There are an amazing amount of unknowns this late in the game. Every game at this point looks interesting.

The one thing we know for sure is our coach is proven winner. We will win 20 games again. He will figure out how to do it one way or another.

Atl Gopher said:

Which Gopher team are we talking about? I am both confused and excited. Are we talking about a Gopher team with Trevor and Al or without them? Does Mr. White wind up at Kentucky or does he stay at home?

This could be a team that could potentially be a top 10 team or it could be a team struggling to win 20 games and make it back in to the NCAA's. The fact is that none of us know for sure. There are an amazing amount of unknowns this late in the game. Every game at this point looks interesting.

The one thing we know for sure is our coach is proven winner. We will win 20 games again. He will figure out how to do it one way or another.

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Remind me how any of this changes what home game you find most interesting this year?

I agree this is a definite upgrade in schedule over last year. No big names, but plenty of good competition and story lines. Wofford should be entertaining.

NDSU. I enjoy these regional games and am happy we schedule a few. Iowa plays ISU,Drake and UNI. Wisc plays UWM,UWGB, and Marquette. I wish the Gophers could add Marquette.

Home Schedule

What happened to CHOF and Hamline did they back out?

Gold Vision said:

Remind me how any of this changes what home game you find most interesting this year?

I agree this is a definite upgrade in schedule over last year. No big names, but plenty of good competition and story lines. Wofford should be entertaining.

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Depending on what team we put on the floor history has shown that every single game could be interesting. Look what our last coach taught us in the pre-season.

I also believe that if we have 2 of those 3 players that none of them will be particularly interesting. I think we could be that strong.

EKU has two Minnesota kids

Just noticed that Eastern Kentucky has a couple Minnesota kids on its roster, senior Justin Stommes (Cold Spring Rocori) and incoming freshman Taylor Filipek (Willmar). Looks like Stommes is a pretty versatile player. He was their leading scorer last season (14.2 ppg) and had some other good numbers. ... 3.8 rpg, 3.5 apg and a 52.1 FG%, including 41.5% from 3-point land.

NDSU will be fun, cant wait. I talked to Tubby last fall, and he said "I felt bad for ditching NDSU for ESPN game, but Woodside is gone & their rebuilding"

NDSU's starting lineup COULD be:

1 Marcus Williams (HOPKINS)
2 Mike Felt (Redwood Falls)
3 Micheal Twiedt (Sodak)
4 Freddie Coleman (Mpls)/Eric Carlson (shakopee)
5 Marshall Bjorklund (Sibley East)

along with Trayvonn Wright from Waterloo Iowa and a couple Wisconsin kids, NDSU has the makings of a solid team, NCAA bound again.

BUT PLEASE HAVE NDSU ON A FRIDAY OR SATURDAY SO WE CAN BRING 1000"s of fans, Tubby and UM Ath Dept are still sticking us on mondays or wednesdays.