STrib blog: Gophers picked 9th in the conference in Sporting News, Lindy's

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per STrib:

Lindy's:

The Gophers are picked to finish 9th in a Big Ten that should have no shortage of powerhouses once more. Michigan State is ranked No. 1 in the nation, and Ohio State (No. 6) and Michigan (No.10) also grace the national top 10. Lindy's has six Big Ten teams going to the NCAA tournament -- but does not give the Gophers, with first-year coach Richard Pitino, the nod. Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin are the teams Lindy's has dancing.

Sporting News:

Once again, Minnesota lands at No. 9 in the conference. Otherwise, Sporting News has an impressive six Big Ten teams in its national top 25, the same schools Lindy's has going to the tournament: Michigan State (No. 2, behind No.1 Kentucky), Michigan (No. 7), Ohio State (No. 11), Wisconsin (No. 14), Iowa (No .23) and Indiana (No. 25). That the Hoosiers still land in the top 25 is really telling of the reputations of the incoming freshmen, considering all that they lost after last season.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/223949371.html

Go Gophers!!
 

BleedGopher said:
per STrib:

Lindy's:

The Gophers are picked to finish 9th in a Big Ten that should have no shortage of powerhouses once more. Michigan State is ranked No. 1 in the nation, and Ohio State (No. 6) and Michigan (No.10) also grace the national top 10. Lindy's has six Big Ten teams going to the NCAA tournament -- but does not give the Gophers, with first-year coach Richard Pitino, the nod. Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin are the teams Lindy's has dancing.

Sporting News:

Once again, Minnesota lands at No. 9 in the conference. Otherwise, Sporting News has an impressive six Big Ten teams in its national top 25, the same schools Lindy's has going to the tournament: Michigan State (No. 2, behind No.1 Kentucky), Michigan (No. 7), Ohio State (No. 11), Wisconsin (No. 14), Iowa (No .23) and Indiana (No. 25). That the Hoosiers still land in the top 25 is really telling of the reputations of the incoming freshmen, considering all that they lost after last season.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/223949371.html

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

Hard to argue at this point. I do think that 9th place is about our floor though. I think we're capable of finishing 6th or 7th and sneaking into the tournament if things go right for us.
 

Ryan James said he would be very surprised if the Gophers do not at least make the NIT
 

I'm pretty confident in what Hollins, Hollins, Smith, EE, and Mo can give us. Other than that, we definitely have question marks. Can Mathieu step up and provide minutes at PG off the bench? Will Buggs, Oto, or King (if eligible), or any combination of the 3 give us decent production at the 4 spot? Considering those personnel questions and the fact that we have a new coach, I think a prediction of 9th is pretty accurate.
 

I believe 9th place looks pretty accurate and I have no problem with us winning the NIT.



Go Gophers!
 


That's about what I expected for a pre-season prediction. I think Richard will deserve a lot of credit if he can finish higher than that in the standings.
 

Dre has the ability to win big games by himself. So I don't think having a few big wins on our record will be a problem but consistency could be a problem.
 

I think the loss of Buckles, combined with the strength of the top handful of teams in the league, definitely makes this year a tough one for Pitino to break into the league. NIT would be a good achievement for this squad.
 

jaymil said:
I'm pretty confident in what Hollins, Hollins, Smith, EE, and Mo can give us. Other than that, we definitely have question marks. Can Mathieu step up and provide minutes at PG off the bench? Will Buggs, Oto, or King (if eligible), or any combination of the 3 give us decent production at the 4 spot? Considering those personnel questions and the fact that we have a new coach, I think a prediction of 9th is pretty accurate.
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Dre Mathieu is NOT a pg! He is a shooter/scorer that is highly inconsistent, more of a poor mans Westbrook...Dre Hollins better prepare his body to play 35 plus each night. Gophers are a NIT team this year, however the future is def bright!
 



BuckyGopher said:
Dre Mathieu is NOT a pg! He is a shooter/scorer that is highly inconsistent, more of a poor mans Westbrook...Dre Hollins better prepare his body to play 35 plus each night. Gophers are a NIT team this year, however the future is def bright!
Click to expand...

I think you are thinking of Malik Smith. Dre Mathieu is definitely a PG.
 

BuckyGopher said:
Dre Mathieu is NOT a pg! He is a shooter/scorer that is highly inconsistent, more of a poor mans Westbrook...Dre Hollins better prepare his body to play 35 plus each night. Gophers are a NIT team this year, however the future is def bright!
Click to expand...

How is the future bright with no 2014 recruits yet? Is it bright because we have all the scholar's available?
 





macgopher said:
How is the future bright with no 2014 recruits yet? Is it bright because we have all the scholar's available?
Click to expand...

Because of the coaching staff, mainly the head coach and how hard he works and does not just give in and take sub par recruits because he is scared that a top 100 recruit will not commit.
 

It pains me to say it, but 9th is probably a pretty fair prediction right now. I would've had us a few spots higher when we were assuming Buckles would be here. If the NCAA also denies King, I might even drop us a spot or two lower.

That said, 9th isn't as bad as it sounds, considering the B1G could get 7-8 teams in the NCAA tourney this year. The biggest thing I hope to see is significant improvement over the course of the year, regardless of finish.
 

WanderingGopher said:
It pains me to say it, but 9th is probably a pretty fair prediction right now. I would've had us a few spots higher when we were assuming Buckles would be here. If the NCAA also denies King, I might even drop us a spot or two lower.

That said, 9th isn't as bad as it sounds, considering the B1G could get 7-8 teams in the NCAA tourney this year. The biggest thing I hope to see is significant improvement over the course of the year, regardless of finish.
Click to expand...

+1
 

I think that I feel about the same this year as I have the last five or ten years (with maybe the exception of last year).

You can probably count on three teams to be in the top four: Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin

You can probably count on three teams to be in the bottom four: Nebraska, Penn State, Northwestern

That leaves six teams to finish somewhere in the middle...

Michigan and Indiana have done enough in the last couple years to move to the top five

So that leaves Iowa, Purdue, Illinois, and the Gophers to fight it out for sixth through ninth place. Iowa is the trendy pick this year, but I'll believe it when I see it. Illinois is working on a great class for 2014, but I'm not sure about next year. Purdue is ok. I could see us finish anywhere in this group.

Soon we will get to find out how good a coach Pitino is.
 

To many unkowns to rank them any higher than 9th but the possibility is there, you have an added scorer in Smith that should help balance the floor a bit, you have a PG in Mathieu that could benefit Dre Hollins in ways we can't envision right now, we really need Buggs or Oseniek to step up, huge expectation but if one or both could do that I think the season could turn out better than expected for a change.
 

WanderingGopher said:
It pains me to say it, but 9th is probably a pretty fair prediction right now. I would've had us a few spots higher when we were assuming Buckles would be here. If the NCAA also denies King, I might even drop us a spot or two lower.

That said, 9th isn't as bad as it sounds, considering the B1G could get 7-8 teams in the NCAA tourney this year. The biggest thing I hope to see is significant improvement over the course of the year, regardless of finish.
Click to expand...

I agree. If you include Wally, we have 6 players who have never played in the B1G. I'm guessing the 2nd half of the B1G season we can make some noise. Also, last season the Barn was a huge advantage at times, let's see if Coach P. can recapture the magic with this group. Can you imagine what it will be like when we start layering in a local kid or two?
 

golfing18now said:
I think that I feel about the same this year as I have the last five or ten years (with maybe the exception of last year).

You can probably count on three teams to be in the top four: Michigan State, Ohio State, Wisconsin

You can probably count on three teams to be in the bottom four: Nebraska, Penn State, Northwestern

That leaves six teams to finish somewhere in the middle...

Michigan and Indiana have done enough in the last couple years to move to the top five

So that leaves Iowa, Purdue, Illinois, and the Gophers to fight it out for sixth through ninth place. Iowa is the trendy pick this year, but I'll believe it when I see it. Illinois is working on a great class for 2014, but I'm not sure about next year. Purdue is ok. I could see us finish anywhere in this group.

Soon we will get to find out how good a coach Pitino is.
Click to expand...

The Big Ten is a big jump from FIU, but let's hope that what he did there last year- which was pretty amazing- translates well at this level.
 

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