2018-19 B1G Opponents Set, First Year of 20 Games

SelectionSunday

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Gophers 7 Home & Homes = Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Gophers 3 Home Only: Indiana, Iowa, Penn State

Gophers 3 Road Only: Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State

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Gophers 7 Home & Homes = Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin

Gophers 3 Home Only: Indiana, Iowa, Penn State

Gophers 3 Road Only: Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State

I am too lazy to compare the threads. How many right did you get?
 

I am too lazy to compare the threads. How many right did you get?

Had 5 of the 7 home & homes correct (Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Rutgers, Wisconsin).

Had 1 home-only correct (Penn State).

Had 1 road-only correct (Michigan State).
 






The 20 games is nice in theory, but now we'll be lucky to see 2 decent non-conference opponents per year.
 

The 20 games is nice in theory, but now we'll be lucky to see 2 decent non-conference opponents per year.

Probably right. Just like in football when they went to 9 conference games. We'll get a good opponent in a holiday tournament and one in the ACC - Big Ten challenge and try to avoid trouble in the rest of non-conference.
 



At first glance my guts says 9-11.

So if we go 9-1 in non-conference, that would be an 18-13 record. Possibly enough to squeak into the NIT although Maryland didn't make it with a 19-13 record this past season.
 

Ranking the Big 10 conference schedules with updated standings projection

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Updated B1G Projection (post schedule release)
1 Michigan State
2 Maryland
3 Purdue
4 Wisconsin
5 Michigan
6 Penn State
7 Nebraska
8 Iowa
9 Minnesota
10 Northwestern
11 Indiana
12 Ohio State
13 Illinois
14 Rutgers

Next Projection: When Isaac Copeland, Carsen Edwards, Ethan Happ, Charles Matthews, Juwan Morgan, James Palmer Jr, and/or Nick Ward make final decisions on NBA Draft.
 

Would expect 3 Power 6/notable non-conference games to be the norm

Probably right. Just like in football when they went to 9 conference games. We'll get a good opponent in a holiday tournament and one in the ACC - Big Ten challenge and try to avoid trouble in the rest of non-conference.

Yep, moving forward with the 20-game B1G schedule, most seasons the formula will be 3 (or as little as 2) Power 6/notable non-conference opponents:

(1) Big East or ACC Challenge opponent;

(2 and/or 3) 4-team exempt tournament where they'll get 1 or 2 depending on how they do in 1st game. This year for example, Gophers will get 2 if they avoid Santa Clara and end up playing Texas A&M and Washington.

This year likely will be an exception (could have 4) with the game at U.S. Bank Stadium, the presumption being that will be a notable opponent.

Pitino has scheduled only 1 home & home (Arkansas) in 5 seasons. Not holding my breath there. Those are even more less likely with 20 conference games.
 

Nice list. Not sure Wisconsin deserves a 4 but the rest seems in the ball park.
If Romeo Langford #6 player in the country does pick Indiana they move up into top 6 for sure. I think all those players listed "should" come back. No first round guarentees there. Iowa had as bad of a year as we had with no major injuries.

[QUOTE

Updated B1G Projection (post schedule release)
1 Michigan State
2 Maryland
3 Purdue
4 Wisconsin
5 Michigan
6 Penn State
7 Nebraska
8 Iowa
9 Minnesota
10 Northwestern
11 Indiana
12 Ohio State
13 Illinois
14 Rutgers

Next Projection: When Isaac Copeland, Carsen Edwards, Ethan Happ, Charles Matthews, Juwan Morgan, James Palmer Jr, and/or Nick Ward make final decisions on NBA Draft.[/QUOTE]
 



Nice list. Not sure Wisconsin deserves a 4 but the rest seems in the ball park.
If Romeo Langford #6 player in the country does pick Indiana they move up into top 6 for sure. I think all those players listed "should" come back. No first round guarentees there. Iowa had as bad of a year as we had with no major injuries.

[QUOTE

Updated B1G Projection (post schedule release)
1 Michigan State
2 Maryland
3 Purdue
4 Wisconsin
5 Michigan
6 Penn State
7 Nebraska
8 Iowa
9 Minnesota
10 Northwestern
11 Indiana
12 Ohio State
13 Illinois
14 Rutgers

Next Projection: When Isaac Copeland, Carsen Edwards, Ethan Happ, Charles Matthews, Juwan Morgan, James Palmer Jr, and/or Nick Ward make final decisions on NBA Draft.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks.

Agree that most of those should or will return. Edwards for sure will come back, he's not going anywhere. If Happ leaves, Badgers drop waaaaaaaay down, into the bottom half. Badgers and Nebraska easily have the most to lose.

Good point on Indiana. If they get Langford and Morgan returns, Hoosiers will move up at least a couple spots.
 

Seems like the early prognostications have the gophers at about 9 like Selection Sunday. However, our front court should be as good as any in the big ten. We have Coffey and McBrayer on the wings. Why are the Gophers rated so low? I get the concern over PG and also injury recovery of a couple players, but just wonder if we're giving a disproportionate weight to these possible negatives.

Would our ranking jump up significantly if we get a decent point guard and wing here in the next few weeks?
 

Seems like the early prognostications have the gophers at about 9 like Selection Sunday. However, our front court should be as good as any in the big ten. We have Coffey and McBrayer on the wings. Why are the Gophers rated so low? I get the concern over PG and also injury recovery of a couple players, but just wonder if we're giving a disproportionate weight to these possible negatives.

Would our ranking jump up significantly if we get a decent point guard and wing here in the next few weeks?

Part of my concern with Gophers (at this point) is there are only 5 proven/semi-proven players (Coffey, Curry, McBrayer, Murph, Jelly), and 3 of those (Curry, Coffey, McBrayer) lost significant time to injury last season. How do they bounce back, especially Curry, and to a lesser extent Coffey?

But even more than that, right now there are only 10 scholarship players on the roster including 3 true freshmen, and 2 guys (Hurt, Stockman) we have no proof they're B1G-caliber players. That's too many question marks for me. Like you pointed out, pick up a quality rotation player or two (guards) in the next couple months and I might raise the bar a little bit.
 

Fair enough. Just for the fun of it, let's say you could be guaranteed health would not be a problem next season, IW would improve to a better than average point, and we pick up a couple of helpful recruits. All of which I think is possible but certainly not guaranteed at this point. Would you move the gophers up to top 4 in rankings?
 

Fair enough. Just for the fun of it, let's say you could be guaranteed health would not be a problem next season, IW would improve to a better than average point, and we pick up a couple of helpful recruits. All of which I think is possible but certainly not guaranteed at this point. Would you move the gophers up to top 4 in rankings?

No.
 

Probably right. Just like in football when they went to 9 conference games. We'll get a good opponent in a holiday tournament and one in the ACC - Big Ten challenge and try to avoid trouble in the rest of non-conference.

If that is the approach we take, fans have no one to blame but our own team. There is no rule requiring us to schedule a certain amount of cupcakes.
 

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Unfortunately backcourt quality is more important especially at the college level than what you have in the frontcourt. We have so little depth. How Washington may look on the road is another question. Can he stick with a game plan, can he set up teammates if the opposing pg just made a basket or does that mean he is automatically going to to shoot it? He is uber talented but it will be a tough task for Pitino. IW is really the most important player on the team.
 




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