Gophers to Host Miami in Big Ten-ACC Challenge

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scools12 said:
There's plenty of buzz about Gopher basketball going into the coming season.

A legit top 25 or possibly top 15 non conference team in the nation is making an appearance at the Barn. Doesn't happen that often.





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Let me re-phrase then. It's difficult to get the casual MN sports fan to pay attention to college basketball period before January. Miami may be top 20, but they won't move that needle.
 

howeda7 said:
It won't help that the same will probably be a 6 PM game on ESPN2.
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It will likely be an 8pm game if both teams are winning heading into it. Not too often do you get two top 25 teams playing and this will be one of the best 4 games of the challenge.

As for not selling out... lower the single game ticket prices (and season packages to be fair to season holders). They are some of the highest in the Big Ten. No excuse for that in a market saturated with professional and college sports entertainment (not always good but lots of options)
 

howeda7 said:
I don't buy this. The difference in cumulative ratings for these pairings versus Duke/Minnesota and Miami/Indiana for ESPN/ESPN2 would be negligible. It's not like they're going to rake in millions of additional ad revenue from this, especially when Duke is up 20 on IU at half time. It's ridiculous.
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You honestly think money has nothing to do with it? It's an event put on by ESPN.
 

bizzle22 said:
You honestly think money has nothing to do with it? It's an event put on by ESPN.
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They have proven recently that their financial acumen isn't stellar. I'm with Howeda in that I can't see a big ratings difference between the alternative games but who knows. Maybe there is a market for a Coach K-Bobby Knight match-up that enough fans are looking for to make a difference.

My conspiracy support is with the "Coach K will not play at Barn" theorists, rather than ESPN will make more on Puke/IU than Gophers/Puke
 


bizzle22 said:
You honestly think money has nothing to do with it? It's an event put on by ESPN.
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Not nothing, but I don't think it drives this particular issue. The event as a whole is a money maker for ESPN. But the net ratings increase from switching those two match-ups would be negligible. Duke/IU will get maybe 10% more viewers than Duke/MN. But Indiana/Miami would get more viewers than Miami/MN. The net is probably a wash.

Their default is simply to always have blue-bloods play blue-bloods, actual talent of the teams doesn't matter. That much is clear.
 


It is very likely that among the reasons Duke won't be playing at Minnesota, the most significant is that Krzyzewski would not allow it. Under K, and especially in recent years, Duke does not play 'true' OOC road games. At least, they don't play them against ranked teams. (Indiana will be a far less formidable opponent than Minnesota.) Look at their schedules over the last decade. You may find big OOC games at neutral sites, but very few, if any, against a tough opponent in their own gym. Krzyzewski simply doesn't do it. He also will not schedule 'home & home' contests against mid-majors. I suspect that if he could arrange it, he wouldn't play any conference games on the road, but he hasn't found an acceptable rationale for that. Yet. I doubt very seriously that ESPN arranged this for TV ratings. Finally, early in the season, Miami is going to be a tougher opponent than Duke, IMO.
 

We have absolutely no clue that coach K had anything to do with this and I would bet that he didn't. He's simply an easy target for fans to blame due to the amount of success he has had.
 



73CAV said:
It is very likely that among the reasons Duke won't be playing at Minnesota, the most significant is that Krzyzewski would not allow it. Under K, and especially in recent years, Duke does not play 'true' OOC road games. At least, they don't play them against ranked teams. (Indiana will be a far less formidable opponent than Minnesota.) Look at their schedules over the last decade. You may find big OOC games at neutral sites, but very few, if any, against a tough opponent in their own gym. Krzyzewski simply doesn't do it. He also will not schedule 'home & home' contests against mid-majors. I suspect that if he could arrange it, he wouldn't play any conference games on the road, but he hasn't found an acceptable rationale for that. Yet. I doubt very seriously that ESPN arranged this for TV ratings. Finally, early in the season, Miami is going to be a tougher opponent than Duke, IMO.
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Duke has played challenge games at Wisconsin (twice, once when Badgers were ranked #2), at #2 Ohio State, and at #10 Purdue. The Blue Devils haven't played a challenge game on a neutral court since 2002. In sorry, but the narrative that they would refuse to play here just doesn't fit the facts
 

bizzle22 said:
Duke has played challenge games at Wisconsin (twice, once when Badgers were ranked #2), at #2 Ohio State, and at #10 Purdue. The Blue Devils haven't played a challenge game on a neutral court since 2002. In sorry, but the narrative that they would refuse to play here just doesn't fit the facts
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Exactly.
 

It is a little early for the Gophs to have BB cred yet. We will be playing all of these teams in the next few years.


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Florida St won't be nearly the same team this year, and UVA is losing a lot as well...I was really hoping for Louisville/UNC
 



I get the disappointment but I'm surprised people think the Barn won't be filled. If we each remain as projected, you really don't think being ranked top 20 all season and bringing in a top 20 ACC opponent on ESPN is enough to fill the place?
 

The Barn will be packed if the Gophers are undefeated and ranked at the time. While I'd like to forget some of it, I can't help but remember how crazy Minneapolis/Minnesota was when the Gophers were in the Final 4.
 

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