NCAA Tournament

Waffle

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Mercer led by one going into the 4th but Iowa hung on 66-61. Hawkeyes avoided being the first #2 seed to ever lose to a #15 seed. Gustafson had 30 & 16. Their 2nd round game vs Missouri on Sunday should be good. Mizzou barely survived Drake 77-76 in OT. A foul on a 3 point attempt with 1 second left in OT doomed the Bulldogs. They then missed a wide open 3 that would've won it.

#8 Michigan blasted Kansas State 84-54. Will play at #1 seed Louisville Sunday.

Indiana pulled the 10 over 7 upset like the Gophers did last year in Eugene. Rallied to beat Texas 69-65. Likely to play #2 Oregon on Sunday.

Buffalo outscored Rutgers 23-10 in the 4th to pull a 10 over 7 upset, 82-71. Hopefully they continue momentum and upset UCONN on Sunday :D
 

Why, yes, I am still bitter about Kansas State purchasing the services of Christianna Carr. So I'll just take karmic satisfaction in their lack of success in the tournament at the hands of a B1G team.
 

Shay Colley with the game winner for #9 Michigan State! Contested scoop lay up with 7 seconds left for an 88-87 win over #8 Central Michigan. A 3-headed monster wasn't enough for CMU - Frost 34 points, Kelly 24, Hudson 20. Cooks led MSU with 21, Hollie had 0.
 

Unlike Rutgers, Michigan State survived a MAC team, Central Michigan, 88-87. Reyna Frost had 34 points and 7 rebounds for the Chips. Sydney Cooks had 21 points and 5 rebounds for Sparty.
 

17 turnovers for Michigan in the 1st half vs Louisville. Somehow they've managed to only be down 12.
 


SDSU ends half on 9-0 run and trails Syracuse 38-36.

UCLA with 17 offensive rebounds leads Maryland 44-40 at the half.
 
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I'm jealous how the lightly-populated neighbor state of South Dakota has no problem being able to field a National Championship Contender in women's basketball while the Gophers aren't even ever able to field a team capable of competing in the WNIT.
 
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South Dakota State with the win in Syracuse 75-64. Guebert 6-10 from three.
 

GO JACKS!!!!

Women's basketball has been very popular at SDSU since before I started there in 2006. Even during the D1 transition, the home games were routinely sold out.
 



Then there was only Iowa. Maryland dropped at home by UCLA 85-80. Michigan State couldn't compete in South Bend.
 

What a fun night of ball. Another host team bites the dust as Missouri State takes down Iowa State 69-60.
 

Nice to get some new blood in the Sweet 16. Is this Kelly Harper's audition for the Lady Vols job?

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There was a time when Kellie Harper was touted as a possible replacement for Pat; but it's been a while. Harper is 0-2 versus the Gophers. When she was a coach on the rise, she led Western Carolina to Williams Arena and lost 70-67. And then a few years later, when she was trending downward, her North Carolina State team lost to Minnesota in a holiday tournament 71-67.
 



Fun to see Jackie Stiles on the bench for Missouri State. She was an amazing player and they have not been there since she was there in 2001. I'm glad SDSU won but it would have good for the Gophers to get Guebert .
 

It's taking much, much longer than I expected, but it looks like we're finally starting to see more parity in women's basketball.

I might be wrong, but I think Guebert's mom went to SDSU. And I recall that her younger sister has committed to intrastate rival South Dakota.

Maryland made some possessions down the stretch with some questionable shot selection. Dare I say that they looked poorly coached in the final minutes of that game?

Yes, the BIG has been exposed as a mediocre P5 conference this year.

Interesting to see teams like Maryland and Syracuse losing at home.
 

I would like to see the Gophers add the South Dakota schools to their non conference schedules in the future even if it is a home and home agreement. Even if they would lose , the competition would be better for them and would still help their RPI more than a 40 point win against cupcake teams. QUOTE=SpaceJunkie;1720868]I'm jealous how the lightly-populated neighbor state of South Dakota has no problem being able to field a National Championship Contender in women's basketball while the Gophers aren't even ever able to field a team capable of competing in the WNIT.[/QUOTE]
 

I would like to see the Gophers add the South Dakota schools to their non conference schedules in the future even if it is a home and home agreement. Even if they would lose , the competition would be better for them and would still help their RPI more than a 40 point win against cupcake teams. QUOTE=SpaceJunkie;1720868]I'm jealous how the lightly-populated neighbor state of South Dakota has no problem being able to field a National Championship Contender in women's basketball while the Gophers aren't even ever able to field a team capable of competing in the WNIT.
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I'd like to see us play these teams, too. It would help us recruit in those states and hopefully keep our in state girls from leaving as they see us play (and hopefully beat) those teams.
 

I agree that we should play some of these schools in the non-conference schedule. There are plenty quality regional teams to choose from and playing teams from ND, SD, IA, and WI would allow fans of those teams to travel here for games and hardcore Gopher fans to take road trips to away games. Marquette, Iowa State, UW-Green Bay, NDSU, ND, SDSU, SD, Drake, UW-Milwaukee...some of these schools would look good as non-conference opponents and there would probably be more interest from Gopher fans than the interest derived from Incarnate Word, Cupcake College, and Powderpuff Institute of Technology.

And, no, I don't even care if the Gophers lose occasionally to these regional rivals. It's always irritated me that the Gophers stopped playing NDSU in football after NDSU beat the Gophers. NDSU fans attended those games in Minneapolis in droves and then the U decided to "take their ball and go home" after they lost to the Bison. And now the Gopher athletic department is lamenting the lack of attendance at football games (among others) when they've opted to schedule schools few of us have even heard of as non-conference opponents.
 

I agree that we should play some of these schools in the non-conference schedule. There are plenty quality regional teams to choose from and playing teams from ND, SD, IA, and WI would allow fans of those teams to travel here for games and hardcore Gopher fans to take road trips to away games. Marquette, Iowa State, UW-Green Bay, NDSU, ND, SDSU, SD, Drake, UW-Milwaukee...some of these schools would look good as non-conference opponents and there would probably be more interest from Gopher fans than the interest derived from Incarnate Word, Cupcake College, and Powderpuff Institute of Technology.

And, no, I don't even care if the Gophers lose occasionally to these regional rivals. It's always irritated me that the Gophers stopped playing NDSU in football after NDSU beat the Gophers. NDSU fans attended those games in Minneapolis in droves and then the U decided to "take their ball and go home" after they lost to the Bison. And now the Gopher athletic department is lamenting the lack of attendance at football games (among others) when they've opted to schedule schools few of us have even heard of as non-conference opponents.

Obviously, RPI varies from year to year but some of the schools you mention -- both North Dakotas, Milwaukee -- would have been just as disastrous, RPI-wise. And isn't South Dakota a recent addition to the RPI-gifted? But I do agree some of those teams seem like obvious OOC opponents for the Gophers (for years, I assumed they didn't play South Dakota State because of lingering animosity toward the coach but I imagine, two Gopher coaches later, that's no longer a factor. Animosity toward Iowa State's coach, however, should perhaps linger until retirement.)
 

I agree that we should play some of these schools in the non-conference schedule. There are plenty quality regional teams to choose from and playing teams from ND, SD, IA, and WI would allow fans of those teams to travel here for games and hardcore Gopher fans to take road trips to away games. Marquette, Iowa State, UW-Green Bay, NDSU, ND, SDSU, SD, Drake, UW-Milwaukee...some of these schools would look good as non-conference opponents and there would probably be more interest from Gopher fans than the interest derived from Incarnate Word, Cupcake College, and Powderpuff Institute of Technology.

And, no, I don't even care if the Gophers lose occasionally to these regional rivals. It's always irritated me that the Gophers stopped playing NDSU in football after NDSU beat the Gophers. NDSU fans attended those games in Minneapolis in droves and then the U decided to "take their ball and go home" after they lost to the Bison. And now the Gopher athletic department is lamenting the lack of attendance at football games (among others) when they've opted to schedule schools few of us have even heard of as non-conference opponents.

The Big 10 conference instituted a rule for a period of time where you could not schedule any future FCS programs games that were not already scheduled. This is why South Dakota State is still on the schedule in 2019 for the Gophers, they were already scheduled prior to the rule change from the Big 10 conference. I do not see any value in the Gophers playing NDSU, all it is for the Gophers is a chance to give NDSU a home game in TCF stadium which to me makes no sense. IT is different in Women's basketball, I too would like to see the Gophers play ISU, or Northern Iowa, Drake, etc.... but it would only help the Gophers if those programs RPI were good. This season was a prime example of RPI hurting the program because unless they overachieved in conference play the non-conference schedule with the RPI of the opponents being so low made it almost a lock the Gophers would not make the NCAA tournament even with a better than average record.
 

I agree with most of what has been said by thatjanelpick and gopherdude re: NC schedule. I agree that projected RPI needs to be a major consideration in scheduling any opponents, national or regional. I also agree that it won't bother me if we don't schedule ISU until they have a new coach...although that may be a while, as I think Fennelly has a lifetime contract. At least he's not getting a lot of Minnesota recruits. On a related note, I was hoping that the Minnesota pipeline to the Iowa Hawkeyes had dried up a bit , but then I saw that Lakeville's Jensen has given a verbal to Iowa. Well, at least we have two Iowa prep stars joining Whalen's Gophers next year. Exchange program anyone? Whalen referred to the weak non-conference schedule during the season a number of times. That schedule was obviously on the prior staff. Well, I would hope and expect her to solve this problem next year, as this is a team that could well find itself on the proverbial bubble next year and they may have to show a more formidable non-conference schedule.

And one final note on playing NDSU in football...I still like the idea. I too don't like the idea of TCF Bank Stadium brimming with Bison fans, but, hey, if Gopher fans don't want to buy tickets, we might as well get into the pockets of the NDSU fans. Apparently, the Minnesota Twins had the same thought, as they've scheduled an NDSU game this fall at Target Field and I expect that game to be very well attended. When you live in North Dakota, any chance to go to the big metropolis is a big one. (Tongue-in-cheek.) As I recall, Twins president Dave St. Peter is an NDSU grad, so that may be a partial reason for the NDSU connection with the Twins and Target Field. I attending the St. Thomas-St. John's game two years ago at Target Field with 37,000 other fans and loved the venue. Oops, too much NDSU talk, too much football talk, too much rambling....
 

Iowa up 56-44 over NC State after 3. Gustafson has tied the single season record for double-doubles at 33.

Maryland reached the Elite 8 in their first year in the Big Ten in 2015. Before that, the last time a Big Ten team reached the Elite 8 was Purdue in 2009!
 


Happy for the Hawkeyes as they "bluderized" NC State. I suppose it's OK to cheer for the Hawkeyes as they are the lone team left carrying the banner of the BIG and I'm thinking they'll probably not be back to the tourney next year with the players they're losing to graduation.
 

At half-time, Baylor skunking S. Carolina 49-23. SC starters have 9 points between them.
 


Mo. St. didn’t break 20 points til 2 min into the 3rd quarter. But amazingly, at that time Stanford was only ahead by 7 points (28-21). They struggled back into it to make it a game, at one point coming within 5 points with a couple min left. But the Cardinal was too much for them, advancing to the Elite Eight.

In unrelated men’s hoops news, Tex Tech zaggs the Zags.
 

Notre Dame/Texas A&M was a terrific, passion filled, game. I loved Muffet's exasperation when asked about guarding Chennedy Carter; she just said Carter was "unguardable".
 

This game is a total beat down by Baylor. Should set up a good showdown with Iowa.

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I'd be surprised if Baylor didnt win going away against Iowa, They are just huge, Gustafson is gonna have her work cut out for this one.
 

UConn more "vulnerable" than they've been in years, but still advancing to Final Four. Nice to see Oregon advance also. I'll be cheering for the Hawkeyes tonight against Mulkey's gang. Don't like the Hawkeyes chances much, but it would really be nice to see them in there. I really like Gustafson as a player..she seems to enjoy playing and enjoy her teammates and she isn't a showboat. The BIG has had it's share of great players in recent years, including her, Mitchell, Banham...
 




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