Blue Ribbon pegs Gophs for 7th

Wisconsin

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan State

4. Michigan

5. Nebraska

6. Illinois

7. Minnesota

8. Iowa

9. Indiana

10. Maryland

11. Northwestern

12. Penn State

13. Purdue

14. Rutgers



ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

C-Frank Kaminsky, SR, Wisconsin

F-Terran Petteway, JR, Nebraska

F-Sam Dekker, JR, Wisconsin

G-Yogi Ferrell, JR, Indiana

G-Caris Levert, JR, Michigan



PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Frank Kaminsky, SR, Wisconsin



NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

D’Angelo Russell, FR, Ohio State

The Brain Trust said:

Wisconsin

2. Ohio State

3. Michigan State

4. Michigan

5. Nebraska

6. Illinois

7. Minnesota

8. Iowa

9. Indiana

10. Maryland

11. Northwestern

12. Penn State

13. Purdue

14. Rutgers



ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

C-Frank Kaminsky, SR, Wisconsin

F-Terran Petteway, JR, Nebraska

F-Sam Dekker, JR, Wisconsin

G-Yogi Ferrell, JR, Indiana

G-Caris Levert, JR, Michigan



PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Frank Kaminsky, SR, Wisconsin



NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR

D’Angelo Russell, FR, Ohio State

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Tough to argue. Although I really believe that positions 3 through 10 in the standings are a total crapshoot.

bga1 said:

Tough to argue. Although I really believe that positions 3 through 10 in the standings are a total crapshoot.

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Agreed, I could easily see the separation between 3-10 maybe only three games with plenty of teams tied with each other.

#7 sounds about right. I'd put the Gophers' ceiling at 4 and basement at 11. Not likely to finish ahead of the three perennials (Wis, OSU, MSU) but finishing ahead of everyone else is in play.

Absolute worst case dumpster fire season is below the above mentioned top 10 + adding Purdue. Have a gut feeling Painter might bounce back some this season, maybe good enough to be a NIT-type squad?

SelectionSunday said:

#7 sounds about right. I'd put the Gophers' ceiling at 4 and basement at 11. Not likely to finish ahead of the three perennials (Wis, OSU, MSU) but finishing ahead of everyone else is in play.

Absolute worst case dumpster fire season is below the above mentioned top 10 + adding Purdue. Have a gut feeling Painter might bounce back some this season, maybe good enough to be a NIT-type squad?

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To what extent do you think the bigger Big 10 will have on the number of spots our conference gets in the field of 68? In the past, it has sometimes seemed like the committee would have a ceiling for how many teams per conference it would take, do you think that ceiling goes up with a strong 14 team conference like the B1G?

SelectionSunday said:

#7 sounds about right. I'd put the Gophers' ceiling at 4 and basement at 11. Not likely to finish ahead of the three perennials (Wis, OSU, MSU) but finishing ahead of everyone else is in play.

Absolute worst case dumpster fire season is below the above mentioned top 10 + adding Purdue. Have a gut feeling Painter might bounce back some this season, maybe good enough to be a NIT-type squad?

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Disagree on the ceiling. This team could be #1 when you look at our team. We have a solid backcourt. Mo had some games he couldn't be stopped. We've hopefully addressed some of the 3 pt shooting woes. Andre is healthy. The schedule is a double edged sword. We draw some power teams only once. You steal a game or 2 and take care of business against lesser teams and they could be right in contention. However yes that also means the basement is worse which I agree is right at that 11 spot. Just my .02

bleedsmaroonandgold said:

To what extent do you think the bigger Big 10 will have on the number of spots our conference gets in the field of 68? In the past, it has sometimes seemed like the committee would have a ceiling for how many teams per conference it would take, do you think that ceiling goes up with a strong 14 team conference like the B1G?

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There is no ceiling on the number of teams from any conference. Teams get bids, not conferences. Could be 4 or 5, could be 9 or 10. Just never know.

SelectionSunday said:

#7 sounds about right. I'd put the Gophers' ceiling at 4 and basement at 11. Not likely to finish ahead of the three perennials (Wis, OSU, MSU) but finishing ahead of everyone else is in play.

Absolute worst case dumpster fire season is below the above mentioned top 10 + adding Purdue. Have a gut feeling Painter might bounce back some this season, maybe good enough to be a NIT-type squad?

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Hmmm. Not feeling Purdue this year. Think they will have another poor season almost certainly. Painter hasn't done anything when he hasn't had a superstar on his roster. It started with Carl Landry (who has become an NBA veteran now) and then right after Landry they had the Baby Boiler class with Moore, Johnson and Hummel (all of which have been on NBA rosters at some point). They lost both of the Johnson brothers who were their starting guards last year, certainly having to establish a new backcourt is a tall order in the B1G considering many B1G rivals are more experienced and very good at protecting the ball and getting the most out of every possession - and their star player Hammons is a poor defender when he has to get outside of the paint and move around to guard people, which is another big problem for them. My hunch is Purdue will be crap until they get another NBA guy on the team as long as Painter is the coach, as clearly he has not figured out how to build a good team when he doesn't have a pro as the foundation of his team. I just don't think Painter is a coach you can trust to be bringing in the rightguys to win with - Tom Crean is a much better bet in my opinion as he has been able to build winning teams with more than one of his recruiting classes, of course he has been coaching longer but still I would definitely bet on IU being the B1G team out of the state of Indiana to have a bounce-back year this season.

I'm not totally sold on Nebraska or Illinois. Neb had a fabulous home season and was putrid on the road. They won't sneak up on anybody this year. Meanwhile, Illinois still plays without discipline or consistency. I want to see some hoops first, but I think the Board agrees that MN is a potential top half of the B1G team.

7th is a reasonable prediction, Illinois was really coming on at the end of the year and they are my dark horse team to finish ahead of the Gophers. I disagree with the idea that we can't finish ahead of an MSU team that lost a lot and hasn't really been bringing in a to of blue chip talent. I am not saying the Gophers will/should/likely will finish ahead of the Spartans, just that is within the realm of possibility. I find a 3rd B1G finish far more likely than this team finishing 10th in the conference. My one caveat to that is if Mathieu experiences a Vince Grier like regression in his second season as a Gopher. I do worry a bit about him being able to repeat his performance from beyond the arc again this year.

I don't get all the love for Nebraska. I feel like last year was kind of a special season for them and they had a lot of things go right. In contrast, the Gophers lost Andre Hollins for a significant stretch of the season and had two controversial/close losses in conference play to Northwestern and Purdue. If Hollins is all they way back and the Gophers get a significant contribution from just one newcomer, I like their chances at putting together a really solid season.

upnorthkid said:

Disagree on the ceiling. This team could be #1 when you look at our team. We have a solid backcourt. Mo had some games he couldn't be stopped. We've hopefully addressed some of the 3 pt shooting woes. Andre is healthy. The schedule is a double edged sword. We draw some power teams only once. You steal a game or 2 and take care of business against lesser teams and they could be right in contention. However yes that also means the basement is worse which I agree is right at that 11 spot. Just my .02

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Not feeling #1 at all, not with Wisconsin in the conference anyway. Michigan State always seems to find a way. OSU had a very good recruiting class including one of the highest rated fifth year seniors. OSU has a couple of very talented returnees that might get more chances to step forward now that Craft and the two other guys departed. I do think there is a fair chance that Michigan doesn't do as well as projected.

On the other hand, not feeling a floor of #11 either. I'd say the team's ceiling is 11-7 and the floor is 8-10. Likely scenario, imo: 10-8.

Mo was difficult to stop at times last year, but his scoring is fairly one-dimensional and hasn't shown the ability to move or create his own shot enough to get a lot of attempts often. He had only four games of double digit shot attempts last year (What's interesting is that the Gophers were 3-1 in those games).

EG#9 said:

7th is a reasonable prediction, Illinois was really coming on at the end of the year and they are my dark horse team to finish ahead of the Gophers. I disagree with the idea that we can't finish ahead of an MSU team that lost a lot and hasn't really been bringing in a to of blue chip talent. I am not saying the Gophers will/should/likely will finish ahead of the Spartans, just that is within the realm of possibility. I find a 3rd B1G finish far more likely than this team finishing 10th in the conference. My one caveat to that is if Mathieu experiences a Vince Grier like regression in his second season as a Gopher. I do worry a bit about him being able to repeat his performance from beyond the arc again this year.

I don't get all the love for Nebraska. I feel like last year was kind of a special season for them and they had a lot of things go right. In contrast, the Gophers lost Andre Hollins for a significant stretch of the season and had two controversial/close losses in conference play to Northwestern and Purdue. If Hollins is all they way back and the Gophers get a significant contribution from just one newcomer, I like their chances at putting together a really solid season.

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I do agree that #3 is probably more likely than #10, but I don't think either is too likely. Nebraska has the best pure scorer in the conference so that is the source of their preseason cred. I think they will miss Leslie Smith who tore his ACL though. I also agree that Illinois seems to be underrated by some prognosticators. They gave teams fits at the end of last season.