MN has a starting 5 capable of winning the BT & competing for a nat'l title

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In my opinion this isn't a Final Four contender until Lynch can prove he can stay in the floor consistently and a couple of real threats from beyond the arc emerge.

All it took was a couple of injuries last year, and we were getting our butts handed to us by MTSU on a big stage. We've already lost Curry for the year. I'm not sure the roster is hanging by any more of a thread than last year. If someone else in the front court goes down it'll be tough to beat anyone.

That said, we're two years out from being a total wreck. There's no shame in being something slightly less than a top 5 team. Contend for a B1G title and be one of the last 16 teams standing in the national tourney, and I'll be happy.
 

Having tourney experience is important for sure. I think that loss will show us how hard you must play. We got out hustled everywhere (out-rebounded our big team 37-24) . I think Fitzgerald's ability to play a stretch 4 could be big against a smaller team. We were 6-21 on 3's against MTSU. They were favored and we lost by 9. Curry was our only bench guy who played more than 4 minutes. Washington's quickness would also help, as long as he can be under control by tourney time.




Heracles said:
In my opinion this isn't a Final Four contender until Lynch can prove he can stay in the floor consistently and a couple of real threats from beyond the arc emerge.

All it took was a couple of injuries last year, and we were getting our butts handed to us by MTSU on a big stage. We've already lost Curry for the year. I'm not sure the roster is hanging by any more of a thread than last year. If someone else in the front court goes down it'll be tough to beat anyone.

That said, we're two years out from being a total wreck. There's no shame in being something slightly less than a top 5 team. Contend for a B1G title and be one of the last 16 teams standing in the national tourney, and I'll be happy.
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Heracles said:
In my opinion this isn't a Final Four contender until Lynch can prove he can stay in the floor consistently and a couple of real threats from beyond the arc emerge.

All it took was a couple of injuries last year, and we were getting our butts handed to us by MTSU on a big stage. We've already lost Curry for the year. I'm not sure the roster is hanging by any more of a thread than last year. If someone else in the front court goes down it'll be tough to beat anyone.

That said, we're two years out from being a total wreck. There's no shame in being something slightly less than a top 5 team. Contend for a B1G title and be one of the last 16 teams standing in the national tourney, and I'll be happy.
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So, if a team could play with just their starting 5 would you say we were a Big Ten and National Title contender?
 

Winasota Gopher said:
So, if a team could play with just their starting 5 would you say we were a Big Ten and National Title contender?
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I would say yes to our starters plus sixth man (IW). When those six can be on the floor, I think we can compete with anyone (even MI State).

Beyond that, things get a bit sketchy with our reserves, given Curry’s injury. I’m really hoping that what we saw from Fitzgerald in the scrimmage is what we’ll see going forward. He could go a long way toward replacing Curry’s minutes this year. Konate is Konate (lots of issues), but he’s athletic, long and a hard worker. Maybe age will net some modest improvement? Let’s also hope that Hurt can be more confident and aggressive this year, and that will also translate to better 3-point shooting. From what I saw in the scrimmage, I’m guessing that Harris will see limited action. Hopefully, he can be a sharp-shooter and contributor in limited minutes while he learns. If all those things happen, watch out Big10!


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Bordergopher said:
I would say yes to our starters plus sixth man (IW). When those six can be on the floor, I think we can compete with anyone (even MI State).Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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I couldn't agree more! If we can play 6 vs 5 we can beat anybody!

We do have the guard players to make a good run in the tournament if they can all improve and (here is the BIG if) they are all healthy for the post-season. Guard play is pretty dominant in the tourney.
 



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