2020-2021 schedule

I can't find it anywhere but for some reason I had in my head it wasnt who hosted but it couldnt be within so many miles of the stadium.
The rule is that you can't play where you are the host institution. From the NCAA site:

"A host institution’s team shall not be permitted to play at the site where the institution is hosting. However, the team may play on the same days when the institution is hosting.

Teams may play at a site where the conference of which it is a member is serving as the host."
 

The rule is that you can't play where you are the host institution. From the NCAA site:

"A host institution’s team shall not be permitted to play at the site where the institution is hosting. However, the team may play on the same days when the institution is hosting.

Teams may play at a site where the conference of which it is a member is serving as the host."
It's kind of silly, considering Gonzaga was set to play in Spokane Arena, 4 minutes from campus, but Idaho was considered host. University of Idaho is an hour and a half away from the arena. Seems like a pretty obvious setup to get Gonzaga a home crowd.
 

It's kind of silly, considering Gonzaga was set to play in Spokane Arena, 4 minutes from campus, but Idaho was considered host. University of Idaho is an hour and a half away from the arena. Seems like a pretty obvious setup to get Gonzaga a home crowd.

What surprises you? This is the NCAA we're talking about. Equity and common sense mean nothing to them. Spokane won't fill up without the Zags, therefore they get to play there. End of story.
 

What surprises you? This is the NCAA we're talking about. Equity and common sense mean nothing to them. Spokane won't fill up without the Zags, therefore they get to play there. End of story.
Maybe for Wash St, but don't think they make it often.
 

U of M is the host, so the Gophers would not be placed in the Midwest Regional.
 



Updated April 3, 2020.

Non-Conference (11)

I’d guess 7 home, 3 neutral, 1 road next season.

Home (7)
Mississippi State
2 of Albany, Lehigh, LIU, Quinnipiac (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off, non-bracketed)
4 cupcakes

Neutral (3)
vs. UCF (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off semifinal)
vs. Marquette or Rhode Island (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off championship or 3rd place)
1 random opponent at Target Center

Road (1)
@ ACC Challenge (I'll guess Miami or Wake Forest)

Big Ten (semi-educated guess) (20)
Home (10)

Illinois
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Road (10)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
 
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Lehigh reportedly has a game @ Marquette, so traveling-wise it would make sense their other road game is vs. Gophers.
 

This would be upsetting in other years.

To be placed in a bracket where you'd be able to play close to home, you need to be a top four seed. So, even if St. Thomas or the Summit League was the "host" to something at the Target Center, the Gophers wouldn't play there unless they were among the top 16 teams in the tourney.

Des Moines was an absolute gift last year. That is almost certainly the closest the Gophers will ever play an NCAA Tourney game to our campus and we did it as a ten-seed.
 

Updated April 3, 2020.

Non-Conference (11)

I’d guess 7 home, 3 neutral, 1 road next season.

Home (7)
Mississippi State
2 of Albany, Lehigh, LIU, Quinnipiac (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off, non-bracketed)
4 cupcakes

Neutral (3)
vs. UCF (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off semifinal)
vs. Marquette or Rhode Island (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off championship or 3rd place)
1 random opponent at Target Center

Road (1)
@ ACC Challenge (I'll guess Miami or Wake Forest)

Big Ten (semi-educated guess) (20)
Home (10)

Illinois
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Road (10)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
SS on your guesses for B1G opponents how did you come to guess Maryland would be a one play again? We only played them at home this year so I thought for sure they'd be a home/away next year. I had the possibilities as Michigan State, Ohio State, and Northwestern for home and Indiana, Iowa, and Penn State for away but then you also would have to sub in Wisconsin for one of these teams unless they decided to actually make a protected rival for everybody and Wisconsin was ours but that didn't sound like it would happen.
 



To be placed in a bracket where you'd be able to play close to home, you need to be a top four seed. So, even if St. Thomas or the Summit League was the "host" to something at the Target Center, the Gophers wouldn't play there unless they were among the top 16 teams in the tourney.

Des Moines was an absolute gift last year. That is almost certainly the closest the Gophers will ever play an NCAA Tourney game to our campus and we did it as a ten-seed.
Right. The chances of MN being a top 4 seed next year is about 1/1000.
 

Right. The chances of MN being a top 4 seed next year is about 1/1000.

Correct. And, next year, U of M is host institution, so even if we were the No. 1 overall seed in the entire tourney, we wouldn't be sent to the Midwest Region because we host the Regional.
 

SS on your guesses for B1G opponents how did you come to guess Maryland would be a one play again? We only played them at home this year so I thought for sure they'd be a home/away next year. I had the possibilities as Michigan State, Ohio State, and Northwestern for home and Indiana, Iowa, and Penn State for away but then you also would have to sub in Wisconsin for one of these teams unless they decided to actually make a protected rival for everybody and Wisconsin was ours but that didn't sound like it would happen.

The rules the Big Ten released with a 20-game schedule was that teams would play "regional" opponents 10 times over 6 seasons and "non-regional" opponents 9 times over 6 seasons. The only problem is other than protecting the in-state rivalries who'll play twice every season (Illinois-Northwestern, Indiana-Purdue, Michigan-Michigan State), the Big Ten didn't define which opponents are regional & non-regional for each school.

So I made an assumption (read: guess) of regional by using the football divisions. For the Gophers that would be Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin (the other Central Time Zone schools) + Purdue, meaning the Gophers would play those schools 10 times over 6 seasons (we're entering Season 3 of the 20-game schedule), and the others (Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers) 9 times over 6 seasons. So that being the case, I made my guesses based on the 6-season rules.

Here's how many times Gophers have played each opponent through 2 seasons of the 20-game schedule, with the idea being that after 2020-21 season Gophers will have played each regional opponent 5 times and each non-regional opponent either 4 or 5 times.

"Regional"
Illinois (3): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (A) -- playing H & A in 2020-21 gets Gophers halfway to 10.

Iowa (3): 2018-19 (H), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing H & A gets us halfway to 10.

Nebraska (3): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (H) -- playing H & A gets us halfway to 10.

Northwestern (3): 2018-19 (A), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing H & A gets us halfway to 10.

Purdue (3): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (A) -- playing H & A gets us halfway to 10.

Wisconsin (4): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing H only gets us halfway to 10.

"Non-Regional"
Indiana (3): 2018-19 (H), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing A only gets us to 4 of 9.

Maryland (3): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (H) -- playing A only gets us to 4 of 9.

Michigan (3): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (H) -- playing H & A gets us to 5 of 9.

Michigan State (3): 2018-19 (A), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing H only gets us to 4 of 9.

Ohio State (3): 2018-19 (A), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing H only gets us to 4 of 9.

Penn State (3): 2018-19 (H), 2019-20 (H & A) -- playing A only gets us to 4 of 9.

Rutgers (3): 2018-19 (H & A), 2019-20 (A) -- playing H & A gets us to 5 of 9.

The only thing I feel close to 100% certain about is the Gophers will play the Badgers only once, and that it likely will be at home because in the final season of the 18-game Big Ten schedule (2017-18) the Gophers played the Badgers only once, and it was in Madison.
 


On the Rothstein podcast with rick pitino today, Rick said he won the bet and that he and Richard are looking into playing at MSG next season
 

On the Rothstein podcast with rick pitino today, Rick said he won the bet and that he and Richard are looking into playing at MSG next season
Would be a cool experience for our guys to play at the Garden, but how do you get the crowd to he greater than 3,000 people? Because I feel like that would suck to play in an almost empty arena.
 

Would be a cool experience for our guys to play at the Garden, but how do you get the crowd to he greater than 3,000 people? Because I feel like that would suck to play in an almost empty arena.


Totally guessing, maybe a potential MN-Iona game would be paired with another game of some sort to make it a doubleheader and get a bang for the buck and bring in a few more fans. Maybe pair it with a Gavitt Tipoff game with St. John's and another Big Ten team?

The Garden with only 3000 people in it is still pretty cool. I believe every time the Gophers have played there in recent years NITs, preseason NIT tipoff, Ohio State, etc., the crowds haven't been great, but the excitement I think was there for the players and fans.
 



Gophers will host Fighting Sioux for second straight season.

Ugh. North Dakota loses two of the top four leading scorers from a team that finished 7-9 in the Summit (though they unexpectedly made it to the Summit final). My guess is a 250+ NET team next year.
 

Ugh. North Dakota loses two of the top four leading scorers from a team that finished 7-9 in the Summit (though they unexpectedly made it to the Summit final). My guess is a 250+ NET team next year.
We need some of these games. Develop the depth.
 

Updated April 9, 2020.

Non-Conference (11)

I’d guess 7 home, 3 neutral, 1 road next season.

Home (7)
#50 Mississippi State

#249 North Dakota

2 of #245 Quinnipiac, #268 Albany, #272 LIU, #288 Lehigh (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off, non-bracketed)

3 cupcakes

Neutral (3)
vs. #124 UCF (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off semifinal)

vs. #26 Marquette or #57 Rhode Island (Air Force Reserve Hall of Fame Tip-Off championship or 3rd place)

vs. random opponent at Target Center

Road (1)
@ ACC Challenge (guessing #103 Miami or #111 Wake Forest?)

Big Ten (semi-educated guess) (20)
Home (10)

Illinois
Iowa
Michigan
Michigan State
Nebraska
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Rutgers
Wisconsin

Road (10)
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maryland
Michigan
Nebraska
Northwestern
Penn State
Purdue
Rutgers
 




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