USA Today: College basketball countdown: No. 27 Minnesota

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per USA Today:

PATH TO THE DANCE: Big Ten at-large bid.

PROJECTED TOURNEY SEED: No. 7 seed.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE GRADE: B-.

STAR WATCH: Hollins (13.6 ppg) returns as the leading scorer and figures to be the Gophers' catalyst once again. Mathieu (12 ppg, 4.2 apg) was in many ways the team's best player last season because of his ability to create for others and himself. Minnesota was the only Big Ten team without an all-conference player. That won't be repeated in 2014-15.

X-FACTOR: Daquein McNeil. The 6-3 sophomore guard didn't see much time last season, but with the void left from Austin Hollins (12.4 ppg, 5.0 rpg), there will be an opportunity for McNeil to blossom.

KEY NEWCOMERS: Also easing the loss of Hollins will be two newcomers in Carlos Morris, a 6-5 junior college All-American guard, and Nate Mason, a 6-1 freshman who fits Pitino's high pick-and-roll offense perfectly.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...asketball-countdown-no-27-minnesota/16453595/

Go Gophers!!
 

B- non-conference schedule grade is spot on

As someone who likes to (over) analyze non-conference schedules, I think their "B-" grade for the Gophers is spot on. It becomes a B (maybe even a B+) if the Gophers end up playing Gonzaga, but probably drops to a C if they don't face the Zags. There's a huge difference between playing one top-25ish team than two.

Wake Forest could be a swing team, as well. If the Deacs improve significantly under Danny Manning -- maybe sneak into the RPI top 100 -- that would help a great deal.
 

SelectionSunday said:
As someone who likes to (over) analyze non-conference schedules, I think their "B-" grade for the Gophers is spot on. It becomes a B (maybe even a B+) if the Gophers end up playing Gonzaga, but probably drops to a C if they don't face the Zags. There's a huge difference between playing one top-25ish team than two.

Wake Forest could be a swing team, as well. If the Deacs improve significantly under Danny Manning -- maybe sneak into the RPI top 100 -- that would help a great deal.
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I think you are discounting Georgia a bit. They have the potential to be a top 25 team this year. They return all 5 starters from a 20-14 team and only lose one bench player. They could make some noise this year.
 

DeathClutch said:
I think you are discounting Georgia a bit. They have the potential to be a top 25 team this year. They return all 5 starters from a 20-14 team and only lose one bench player. They could make some noise this year.
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Certainly could happen, though for now I'm kind of assuming both Georgia and St. John's will be more in the 50-75 range. Certainly will be pulling for both NIT opponents to have good seasons, as well as Wake Forest and Louisville. Gophers need to make sure they win at least a couple of those 4 games, otherwise everything will be contingent on the Big Ten season.
 

DeathClutch said:
I think you are discounting Georgia a bit. They have the potential to be a top 25 team this year. They return all 5 starters from a 20-14 team and only lose one bench player. They could make some noise this year.
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Yes, I was going to say the same thing. They had a rough start last season but improved as the season went on and return most of their key players. I do believe Gonzaga returns their top four scorers though.
 


Good preseason rating. Some respect given but not too much to remove the chip on the shoulder driving the team to earn more respect.
 

There's a lot of talk that this could be Gonzaga's best team. That's saying something. Hope Gophers get a crack at 'em.
 

cjbfbp said:
Yes, I was going to say the same thing. They had a rough start last season but improved as the season went on and return most of their key players. I do believe Gonzaga returns their top four scorers though.
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They return 3 of their top 5 scorers, Pangos, Bell, and Karnowski. They also add Kyle Wiltjer, who sat out last year after transfering from Kentucky.
 




SelectionSunday said:
There's a lot of talk that this could be Gonzaga's best team. That's saying something. Hope Gophers get a crack at 'em.
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Gonzaga is one of the most reliably good basketball programs in the country, and playing them any year is a great addition to a team's nonconference schedule. I am skeptical that this edition of the Zags is their best - although in fairness it's hard to say at this point for sure considering we don't know how good their star player will be exactly - the year Olynyk blossomed into a superstar and led them to a #1 seed will be hard to match for the Zags this season. Pangos and Bell it seems like they have been there forever, I believe they both started for them in the 2011-2012 season and still are there. But Olynyk was a legit 1st team All-American caliber player his last year there, I don't expect any of their guys to be quite that good this year.
 

SelectionSunday said:
There's a lot of talk that this could be Gonzaga's best team. That's saying something. Hope Gophers get a crack at 'em.
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It will be interesting to see if their best team can duplicate what Monson did with them in the Tourney as they haven't been to the Elite 8 since.
 

I agree the Zags would be a great addition to the nonconference schedule with Louisville, Wake Forest & St. Johns. I think this could be their most talented team they've had as they return:

Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell, Karnowski as well as role players in Kyle Dranginis and Angel Nunez.

they have a real solid group of additions to their squad this year too:

Kyle Wiltjer from Kentucky
Byron Wesley (averaged almost 18 ppg at USC last year)
Eric McClellan (averaged 14 ppg at Vanderbilt in 12 games)
Josh Perkins
Silas Melson (Oregon Player of the Year)
Domantas Sabonis (son of Arvydas and often ranked as the top player in his age group in Europe)
Bryon Alberts
 

I forgot about Wesley and the Vanderbilt kid. I see why the expectations are high. Also interested to see if St. Mary's (Joe Coleman) and BYU can give them a run for their money in the WCC.
 



I follow the WCC a lot...I think that the Conference could make a run at being a 3 bid league this year with Gonzaga, St. Mary's and BYU. St. Mary's should be pretty solid as they return their big guy Brad Waldow and another starter in Kerry Carter...they hit the transfer market pretty hard too and in addition to Joe Coleman they add Aaron Bright from Stanford and Desmond Simmons from Washington who both started a lot of games in the Pac-12.

BYU returns one of the top scorers in the country in Tyler Haws and also return Kyle Collingsworth who is a solid player and a few other contributors returning. They lost there big guy Erik Mika who I believe was a top 50 player in high school before his freshman year last year as he is going on a LDS mission. They also have TJ Haws and Nick Emery both four star recruits on Missions as well.

San Francisco has been mentioned in a lot of pre-season rankings as being in the mix with BYU and St. Mary's as well.
 

Surprised to see Harvard ranked in the top 25 in this poll and every other preseason poll that I looked at.
 

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