Pre-Weekend: Big Ten RPI and SOS Updates; Hangin' Out Around the Bubble Cutline

Big one for the Gophers tomorrow. Beat surging Northwestern and at the halfway point of their season Richy P's squad will retain the #4 position for the Big Ten tourney. Lose and they'll hold no better than the #5 spot.

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, have my eye on the Michigan-Indiana game Super Bowl Sunday. Huge, huge, huge one for the Hoosiers. IU has a really weak resume and the nonconference schedule was crap, but a win over the Wolverines would keep the Hoosiers on the fringes of the at-large mix.

RPI
5. Michigan State (19-2)
9. Wisconsin (17-4)
13. Michigan (16-4)
29. GOPHERS (14-6)
31. Iowa (15-5)
32. Ohio State (16-5)
67. Illinois (13-8)
68. Nebraska (11-9)
72. Indiana (13-8)
98. Penn State (11-10)
100. Northwestern (11-11)
102. Purdue (13-8)

Overall SOS
3. Wisconsin
4. GOPHERS
8. Michigan State
13. Michigan
24. Nebraska
28. Ohio State
36. Iowa
40. Northwestern
51. Indiana
52. Penn State
62. Illinois
101. Purdue

Nonconference SOS
10. Wisconsin
48. Michigan State
49. Ohio State
51. GOPHERS
66. Michigan
89. Nebraska
150. Illinois
165. Indiana
166. Iowa
172. Penn State
228. Northwestern
280. Purdue

Hangin' Out Around the Bubble Cutline
Just for fun. ... If we went strictly by RPI (which we don't, but this is for sh*ts and giggles), the Field of 68's "last 8 in" and "first 8 out" might look something like this:

Last 8 In: North Carolina (43), Tennessee (44), Richmond (45), Oregon (46), Providence (47), BYU (48), Stanford (50), SMU (51)

First 8 Out: Saint Mary's (52), Cal (53), LSU (54), Boise State (55), Ole Miss (56), Indiana State (57), NC State (58), Saint Joseph's (59)

Dayton Bound (First 4)
At-Larges: Providence, BYU, Stanford, SMU
Automatic Qualifiers: Weber State, Southern U, Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina

Automatic Qualifiers Outside the RPI Top 68
82. Canisius (MAAC)
83. Georgia State (Sun Belt)
86. Stephen F. Austin (Southland)
90. UCSB (Big West)
121. North Carolina Central (MEAC)
128. Vermont (America East)
129. Robert Morris (NEC)
133. American (Patriot)
151. Utah Valley (WAC) -- my, how the WAC has fallen
162. Weber State (Big Sky)
191. Southern U (SWAC)
214. Chattanooga (Southern)
244. Coastal Carolina (Big South) -- a Gopher nonconference opponent, go Chanticleers

Is it just me or do others see these SS updates and get pissed all over again about the MI loss. If we had finished that game and won we would be sitting pretty right now.

GopherinPhilly said:

Is it just me or do others see these SS updates and get pissed all over again about the MI loss. If we had finished that game and won we would be sitting pretty right now.

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I've wanted that game back since January 3. It may be the worst game we've played in the new year. Too bad.

GopherinPhilly said:

Is it just me or do others see these SS updates and get pissed all over again about the MI loss. If we had finished that game and won we would be sitting pretty right now.

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Michigan is the only team in the B1G that doesn't feel the same as you, Philly. But I don't get pissed about things I can't change. All I do is look ahead, and root our Gophers on.

Holy Man said:

I've wanted that game back since January 3. It may be the worst game we've played in the new year. Too bad.

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Luck, or bad luck matters.

Gophers shot 47% on 2s and 26% on 3s vs. Michigan
For the B1G season they've made 52% of 2s and 36.4% on 3s.

If the Gophers are average they win that game by 10.

Michigan caught us on a bad night.

From the Barn said:

Michigan caught us on a bad night.

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Gophers actually did a pretty good job on Stauskas, but Zak Irvin picked that night to light it up from 3. He made a couple huge daggers.

GopherinPhilly said:

Is it just me or do others see these SS updates and get pissed all over again about the MI loss. If we had finished that game and won we would be sitting pretty right now.

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I bet Penn St fans (all 12 of them) feel the same about their loss to the Gophers as we do about the loss to Michigan.

matt said:

I bet Penn St fans (all 12 of them) feel the same about their loss to the Gophers as we do about the loss to Michigan.

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I think you counted the guy with the puppet twice.

Dr.Don said:

Michigan is the only team in the B1G that doesn't feel the same as you, Philly. But I don't get pissed about things I can't change. All I do is look ahead, and root our Gophers on.

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Thank you Dr. Don for perspective and hilarity.

Whenever you do a post like this I always check out the standings of all the conferences. I have to ask, what the heck happened to Butler? Was Brad Stevens THAT important? Did he leave a mess? Is Brandon Miller not the answer? 6 out of the last 7 years they've won at least 26 games. A couple of games ago they lost to St Johns at home by 17.

fan of Ray Williams said:

Whenever you do a post like this I always check out the standings of all the conferences. I have to ask, what the heck happened to Butler? Was Brad Stevens THAT important? Did he leave a mess? Is Brandon Miller not the answer? 6 out of the last 7 years they've won at least 26 games. A couple of games ago they lost to St Johns at home by 17.

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I know they lost one of their best players (Roosevelt Jones) to an injury prior to the season, but that certainly doesn't excuse everything. I suspect Butler will find out the going's quite a bit tougher night in & night out in the Big East (even watered down) than it was in the Horizon League, where they played prior to their 1-year pit stop in the A-10.

People can be disappointed in OSU and Wiscy, but whould have thought that Purdue would have the worst RPI in the conference at this point and still almost be top 100? This truly is a league without a really bad team.