There is one team in the nation that is clearly better than the Gophers on a neutral.

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Miles Tarver

Miles Tarver

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court...

and that is the dukies if Kelly is healthy. We just cannot match up with them.

Every other team in the country we can beat when it comes to march, and I am fully confident in that.

Louisville, Michigan, Indiana, Arizona, Cuse etc...

anyone disagree?
 

I think MN is good enough to beat almost any team on a neutral court, but I also believe there are 10-15 teams that are close to or just as good as the Gophers. On a neutral court I would guess there would be 7-8 teams favored to beat MN, IMO...
 

I agree with you Miles. I personally think that we won't lose another game until the Big Ten Tournament, and maybe not even then? It honestly wouldn't shock me if we went undefeated the rest of the season. Unlike 1997, when Minnesota marched almost undefeated to the NCAA FF, and I think we have that one loss in conf play already behind us, when/if we get to the FF, unlike 1997, I don't think the quality will be the same. We ran into some incredible teams that year. The Big Ten was down that year, and we were the lone bright spot in the Big Ten, and when we got the FF, I think we discovered that we just weren't as good as those other teams. I think our final #3 ranking may have been a slight overrated rank, not by much though. I think we were like the 4th or 5th best team in the country that year.

This year, although I could end up being wrong, I think Duke is the only team that is clearly better than us. But I will admit alot of the reason I believe this way is because of how highly rated IU and Michigan have been, and how I personally rate Minnesota in comparison to those two. In the next few weeks, I might recognize that other teams like Kansas or Louisville are really good, too, but right now, I guess its early and I just haven't seen much from anyone other than Duke, outside of the Big Ten.

Maybe I'm just a big homer and can't bear to admit it because of how much I want all that I'm thinking to be true?
 

Duke would beat us more often than not, but if we catch them on the right day we could certainly beat them.
 

#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
I agree with you Miles. I personally think that we won't lose another game until the Big Ten Tournament, and maybe not even then? It honestly wouldn't shock me if we went undefeated the rest of the season. Unlike 1997, when Minnesota marched almost undefeated to the NCAA FF, and I think we have that one loss in conf play already behind us, when/if we get to the FF, unlike 1997, I don't think the quality will be the same. We ran into some incredible teams that year. The Big Ten was down that year, and we were the lone bright spot in the Big Ten, and when we got the FF, I think we discovered that we just weren't as good as those other teams. I think our final #3 ranking may have been a slight overrated rank, not by much though. I think we were like the 4th or 5th best team in the country that year.

This year, although I could end up being wrong, I think Duke is the only team that is clearly better than us. But I will admit alot of the reason I believe this way is because of how highly rated IU and Michigan have been, and how I personally rate Minnesota in comparison to those two. In the next few weeks, I might recognize that other teams like Kansas or Louisville are really good, too, but right now, I guess its early and I just haven't seen much from anyone other than Duke, outside of the Big Ten.

Maybe I'm just a big homer and can't bear to admit it because of how much I want all that I'm thinking to be true?
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I think you win the award for the longest posts on this board.

I doubt Minnesota will go undefeated the rest of the way, but would love to see it happen. There certainly aren't any games on the schedule that we can't win.
 


Another team that would be a tough matchup in my opinion is Kansas. McLemore and Withey are absolute studs. Not saying we couldn't beat them, but they would be very tough.
 

barnanimal said:
Another team that would be a tough matchup in my opinion is Kansas. McLemore and Withey are absolute studs. Not saying we couldn't beat them, but they would be very tough.
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Yeah they are good. I've been impressed with them. MSU beat them so they are not unbeatable, but they are a good team...Didn't they get a PG Tubby wanted a couple years ago? I think he is a bench player for them now...
 

#1nHkyCfbBsbDncSolarDebat said:
I agree with you Miles. I personally think that we won't lose another game until the Big Ten Tournament, and maybe not even then? It honestly wouldn't shock me if we went undefeated the rest of the season. Unlike 1997, when Minnesota marched almost undefeated to the NCAA FF, and I think we have that one loss in conf play already behind us, when/if we get to the FF, unlike 1997, I don't think the quality will be the same. We ran into some incredible teams that year. The Big Ten was down that year, and we were the lone bright spot in the Big Ten, and when we got the FF, I think we discovered that we just weren't as good as those other teams. I think our final #3 ranking may have been a slight overrated rank, not by much though. I think we were like the 4th or 5th best team in the country that year.

This year, although I could end up being wrong, I think Duke is the only team that is clearly better than us. But I will admit alot of the reason I believe this way is because of how highly rated IU and Michigan have been, and how I personally rate Minnesota in comparison to those two. In the next few weeks, I might recognize that other teams like Kansas or Louisville are really good, too, but right now, I guess its early and I just haven't seen much from anyone other than Duke, outside of the Big Ten.

Maybe I'm just a big homer and can't bear to admit it because of how much I want all that I'm thinking to be true?
Click to expand...

I will admit it for you.

You are a homer!
 

gopherbadgerman said:
Yeah they are good. I've been impressed with them. MSU beat them so they are not unbeatable, but they are a good team...Didn't they get a PG Tubby wanted a couple years ago? I think he is a bench player for them now...
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Yeah Naadir Tharpe. He's averaging like 5.3 ppg or something off the bench.
 



BayfieldGopher -- Well, I guess we will just have to wait and see, now won't we? If things don't go the way I said they will, at least being a homer is a forgivable sin. But if they do go as I said I think they will go, well, you can all let everyone know, undecipherable name guy was the first to predict it was going to happen. lol
 

So if I say the Gophers are over rated, you can let everyone know, undecipherable name guy was the first to predict it was going to happen. lol
 

I think there are less and less truly dominant teams every year in college basketball. Anyone in the current top 12-15 could be the #1 team by the end of the regular season. Louisville turned things around in the 2nd half against UConn but was down at halftime on the day they became #1.

Duke would beat us more times than not, but they are hardly unbeatable by the Gophers. Duke shot the lights out in our meeting in November, and the Gophers didn't play that well IMO, yet they stayed within a dozen or so of Duke most of the game.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I think there are less and less truly dominant teams every year in college basketball. Anyone in the current top 12-15 could be the #1 team by the end of the regular season. Louisville turned things around in the 2nd half against UConn but was down at halftime on the day they became #1.

Duke would beat us more times than not, but they are hardly unbeatable by the Gophers. Duke shot the lights out in our meeting in November, and the Gophers didn't play that well IMO, yet they stayed within a dozen or so of Duke most of the game.
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Agreed. The parity in NCAA this year is crazy. Not a lot of great teams, but a bunch of really good teams.
 



I am watching Kansas - Baylor right now and am not all that impressed with Kansas at home, so put that as another opponent that we could be on a neutral.
 


From a match up perspective I think Louisville would give us match up nightmares, Syracuse and their zone might throw us for a loop too and of course Duke.
 

You do realize we are a completely different team from the Duke game. EE and Big Mo combined for 23 minutes of pure comedy trying to stop Plumlee and keep him off the boards. Mbakwe at 65% was the only one that could handle Plumlee. And he actually did a very good job, despite barely being able to get any lift off the ground.

And Dre only played 24 minutes, while this being before the Memphis game which gave him a confidence and swagger that has rolled into conference play nicely. Despite Duke shooting the lights out, and Mbakwe playing at 65%, and playing only 18 minutes, we were still very much in that ball game until the final 3 minutes. I think the Gophers can beat any team in the nation on a neutral court when playing top notch basketball. Including Duke. That's why I'm pumped for the Big Dance this year! Finally, since the Clem Haskins era, I believe I can watch the Gophers in the Dance and actually have some confidence that they can do something!
 

It was interesting last night that Fran Fraschilla (he of the "That's a Final Four team" quote speaking of the 1996-97 Gophers after they shellacked his St. John's squad) said he thought there were probably "9 or 10 teams capable of cutting down the nets." He didn't specifically name any of the teams, but it's nice to think the Gophers (perhaps) are in that ballpark.

Beat Big Blue.

Fans at the game, our challenge is to make Value City Arena in Columbus (which was very raucous Sunday) seem like it was a walk in the park for the Wolverines. Michigan is very talented, but is VERY, VERY young. Four of their top 7 players are freshmen. Let's make it the Michigan State atmosphere x 5. Don't let the early start be an excuse for showing up late.
 

I wonder what the full strength Gophers would do against a somewhat more human version of Duke. They played out of their mind that day.
 

SelectionSunday said:
It was interesting last night that Fran Fraschilla (he of the "That's a Final Four team" quote speaking of the 1996-97 Gophers after they shellacked his St. John's squad) said he thought there were probably "9 or 10 teams capable of cutting down the nets." He didn't specifically name any of the teams, but it's nice to think the Gophers (perhaps) are in that ballpark.

Beat Big Blue.

Fans at the game, our challenge is to make Value City Arena in Columbus (which was very raucous Sunday) seem like it was a walk in the park for the Wolverines. Michigan is very talented, but is VERY, VERY young. Four of their top 7 players are freshmen. Let's make it the Michigan State atmosphere x 5. Don't let the early start be an excuse for showing up late.
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Top 10 ranking?

Perhaps? Even after the way this team has performed?

Wow......
 

syracuse and their zone would scare me more than duke

Plumlee is very hard for Trevor to guard and they can surround him with 3pt shooters. Sounds a bit like Indiana to me. Kelly has 4 inches on Rodney but Rodney is at least twice as fast. Rodney had good numbers against Duke. If we played them again I would hope Rodney would put up 15 shots against Kelly. I do not think Kelly can guard him if he sets his mind to it. Duke is very disciplined but they are not the most athletic team. Syracuse has athletes who can really rebound. Their zone forces lots of outside shots.







Miles Tarver said:
court...

and that is the dukies if Kelly is healthy. We just cannot match up with them.

Every other team in the country we can beat when it comes to march, and I am fully confident in that.

Louisville, Michigan, Indiana, Arizona, Cuse etc...

anyone disagree?
Click to expand...
 

Duke barely beat an (at that time) terrible Kentucky, and barely beat Ohio State. I have a hard time believing we can't hang with Duke.

If they shoot 50% from 3 instead of 80% our game is a nail biter down to the wire.
 


Well as we saw last night with WI and Ind. anything can happen. The conference winner will more than likely have three losses this year.
 


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