2023-2024 Gophers Basketball Schedule Thread

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EG#9 said:
This seems like a very transparent attempt to count wins and cite improvement. 9-2 and 7-13 in conference play (or 10-1 and 6-14) gets the Gophers to 16-15 and a "winning record". The cynic in me believes the schedule was set up for this exact purpose. I hope I am wrong and the fan base/administration is smarter than that.
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Well, duh. As the old saying goes, the most obvious explanation usually is the correct one.

Having said that, I don't see the point of continually bitching about things that are set in stone and beyond our control. That's a tendency on this site and that results in considerable tedium.

I think one can argue that puffing up the won/lost record may not be the only motivation for an exceptionally easy non-conference schedule like this. This roster appears to have more depth and certainly has more returnees than Johnson has had in his previous two seasons. Garcia, Payne, and maybe the two transfer guards would seem to be no-brainers to play big minutes but I could see playing time for the rest of the roster being unresolved at this point. Maybe Johnon wanted more early season games than usual where there is a potential to empty the bench.

A 16-15 record would be improvement but given the nonconference schedule and the greater depth and Big Ten experience of this roster compared to the coach's previous ones, that result should be AT BEST a 50%/50% proposition for granting a 4th season. I think that Johnson should have at least a 17-14 overall regular season record this season. 18-13 would be better and give a little more confidence going forward.
 


What if they finish 6-14 in conference? To me, that's the line where the decision to move on from Johnson gets messy. Still terrible, but an improvement. 4 wins seems like a clear decision and 8 wins does too
 

bigten.org

Big Ten Announces 2023-24 Men's Basketball Conference Schedule

ROSEMONT, Ill. — The Big Ten Conference announced Thursday a full breakdown of its 140 men’s basketball conference matchups for all 14 member institutions for the 2023-24 season, as revealed live on the Big Ten Network. For the fifth consecutive year, each Big Ten Conference member institution...
bigten.org bigten.org
 


formerlybis said:
What if they finish 6-14 in conference? To me, that's the line where the decision to move on from Johnson gets messy. Still terrible, but an improvement. 4 wins seems like a clear decision and 8 wins does too
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Johnson appears to have more depth this season and certainly has more returnees this season than the previous two. A 6-14 conference season combined with, let's say, a 10-1 performance in the very underwhelming nonconference slate would result in a 16-15 overall regular season record. Personally I don't think that's good enough to get a 4th season because the circumstances are in place this season for him to have a better overall record than that. I think he should have at least a 17-14 regular season. Of course, if there is any postseason beyond the Big Ten tournament, that might make a difference.
 

formerlybis said:
What if they finish 6-14 in conference? To me, that's the line where the decision to move on from Johnson gets messy. Still terrible, but an improvement. 4 wins seems like a clear decision and 8 wins does too
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I've been as big of a CBJ supporter as anyone on this site. However, he needs to make hay this year.

There are no more excuses. This is Year 3, and we have a complete roster that includes high-upside underclassmen, experienced upperclassmen transfers, and multiple players who have been in the program for multiple years.

We need to be a bubble team, which means winning at least 10 games in the conference slate.

This non-conference schedule isn't even worth discussing. It's embarrassingly soft, and I think it is a significant blunder on CBJ's part.

They need to win at least as many games as they lose in conference play this year. If that's not attainable after two historically bad years, it's time to move on.
 

nooram said:
bigten.org

Big Ten Announces 2023-24 Men's Basketball Conference Schedule

ROSEMONT, Ill. — The Big Ten Conference announced Thursday a full breakdown of its 140 men’s basketball conference matchups for all 14 member institutions for the 2023-24 season, as revealed live on the Big Ten Network. For the fifth consecutive year, each Big Ten Conference member institution...
bigten.org bigten.org
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The group of conference teams we play twice probably is about as good as we could expect: Mich State, Indiana, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State, Ohio State, and Iowa. I suppose switching out the first two for Michigan and Rutgers would be better but this group isn't so bad.
 

2023-24 Big Ten Conference Men’s Basketball Schedule

Sunday, Dec. 3Minnesota at Ohio State
Wednesday, Dec. 6Nebraska at Minnesota
Thursday, Jan. 4Minnesota at Michigan
Sunday, Jan. 7Maryland at Minnesota
Friday, Jan. 12Minnesota at Indiana
Monday, Jan. 15Iowa at Minnesota
Thursday, Jan. 18Minnesota at Michigan State
Tuesday, Jan. 23Wisconsin at Minnesota
Saturday, Jan. 27Minnesota at Penn State
Saturday, Feb. 3Northwestern at Minnesota
Tuesday, Feb. 6Michigan State at Minnesota
Sunday, Feb. 11Minnesota at Iowa
Thursday, Feb. 15Minnesota at Purdue
Sunday, Feb. 18Rutgers at Minnesota
Thursday, Feb. 22Ohio State at Minnesota
Sunday, Feb. 25Minnesota at Nebraska
Wednesday, Feb. 28Minnesota at Illinois
Saturday, March 2Penn State at Minnesota
Wednesday, March 6Indiana at Minnesota
Saturday, March 9Minnesota at Northwestern
 
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topos said:
They need to win at least as many games as they lose in conference play this year. If that's not attainable after two historically bad years, it's time to move on.
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If the team goes 10-1 in nonconference and 9-11 in conference, that's a 19-12 overall record. There's no way he's getting fired if that is the regular season result. I don't think an 18-13 overall record would produce that result either.
 

gophersports.com

2023-24 Men's Basketball Schedule - University of Minnesota Athletics

The official 2023-24 Men's Basketball schedule for the University of Minnesota Gophers
gophersports.com gophersports.com

Date Time At Opponent Location Tournament Result

Nov 2 (Thu) TBA Home Macalester TBD (Williams Arena)

Nov 6 (Mon) TBA Home Bethune-Cookman TBD (Williams Arena)

Nov 10 (Fri) TBA Home UTSA TBD (Williams Arena)

Nov 16 (Thu) TBA Home Missouri TBD (Williams Arena)

Nov 18 (Sat) TBA Home South Carolina - Upstate TBD (Williams Arena)

Nov 21 (Tue) TBA Home Arkansas - Pine Bluff TBD (Williams Arena)

Nov 26 (Sun) TBA Neutral San Francisco San Francisco, CA

Nov 30 (Thu) TBA Home New Orleans TBD (Williams Arena)

Dec 3 (Sun) TBA Away Ohio State Columbus, OH

Dec 6 (Wed) TBA Home University of Nebraska TBD (Williams Arena)

Dec 9 (Sat) TBA Home Florida Gulf Coast TBD (Williams Arena)

Dec 12 (Tue) TBA Home IUPUI TBD (Williams Arena)

Dec 21 (Thu) TBA Home Ball State TBD (Williams Arena)

Dec 29 (Fri) TBA Home Maine TBD (Williams Arena)

Jan 4 (Thu) TBA Away Michigan Ann Arbor, MI

Jan 7 (Sun) TBA Home Maryland TBD (Williams Arena)

Jan 12 (Fri) TBA Away Indiana Bloomington, IN

Jan 15 (Mon) TBA Home Iowa TBD (Williams Arena)

Jan 18 (Thu) TBA Away Michigan State East Lansing, MI

Jan 23 (Tue) TBA Home Wisconsin TBD (Williams Arena)

Jan 27 (Sat) TBA Away Penn State University Park, PA

Feb 3 (Sat) TBA Home Northwestern TBD (Williams Arena)

Feb 6 (Tue) TBA Home Michigan State TBD (Williams Arena)

Feb 11 (Sun) TBA Away Iowa Iowa City, IA

Feb 15 (Thu) TBA Away Purdue West Lafayette, IN

Feb 18 (Sun) TBA Home Rutgers TBD (Williams Arena)

Feb 22 (Thu) TBA Home Ohio State TBD (Williams Arena)

Feb 25 (Sun) TBA Away Nebraska Lincoln, NE

Feb 28 (Wed) TBA Away Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL

Mar 2 (Sat) TBA Home Penn State TBD (Williams Arena)

Mar 6 (Wed) TBA Home Indiana TBD (Williams Arena)

Mar 9 (Sat) TBA Away Northwestern Evanston, IL
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
If the team goes 10-1 in nonconference and 9-11 in conference, that's a 19-12 overall record. There's no way he's getting fired if that is the regular season result. I don't think an 18-13 overall record would produce that result either.
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You're probably correct—it was just my general opinion on what's acceptable. The Big Ten Tourney results will (and should) also factor into the final decision.
 





Guess the record for the first 15 games. We play two tournament teams from last year(Missouri and Maryland, both at home). Only two true road games(Ohio State & Michigan), one neutral site game(San Francisco). Worst case scenario has to be 11-4 IMO. Meaning we beat San Francisco and Nebraska. Lose to Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland.
 



Gophers7633 said:

Guess the record for the first 15 games. We play two tournament teams from last year(Missouri and Maryland, both at home). Only two true road games(Ohio State & Michigan), one neutral site game(San Francisco). Worst case scenario has to be 11-4 IMO. Meaning we beat San Francisco and Nebraska. Lose to Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland.
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Considering the circumstances, 11-4 is a fair target after 15 but Johnson isn't getting fired after 15 games if he falls a bit short of that.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Considering the circumstances, 11-4 is a fair target after 15 but Johnson isn't getting fired after 15 games if he falls a bit short of that.
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You're probably right, but if we don't have 11 wins after 15 games, we are going to finish with like 3/4 B1G wins.
 


formerlybis said:
What if they finish 6-14 in conference? To me, that's the line where the decision to move on from Johnson gets messy. Still terrible, but an improvement. 4 wins seems like a clear decision and 8 wins does too
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6-14 is what Pitino was fired for. 3 years in and your best season is what the previous coach was fired for is not an improvement. Plus Richard never played a MEAC non conference schedule to try and pad his win total.
 

Gophers7633 said:

Guess the record for the first 15 games. We play two tournament teams from last year(Missouri and Maryland, both at home). Only two true road games(Ohio State & Michigan), one neutral site game(San Francisco). Worst case scenario has to be 11-4 IMO. Meaning we beat San Francisco and Nebraska. Lose to Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland.
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10-5 on the way to 14-17.
 


Gophers7633 said:

Guess the record for the first 15 games. We play two tournament teams from last year(Missouri and Maryland, both at home). Only two true road games(Ohio State & Michigan), one neutral site game(San Francisco). Worst case scenario has to be 11-4 IMO. Meaning we beat San Francisco and Nebraska. Lose to Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland.
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Unbelievable. Zero true road non conference games. These coaches are some of the highest paid state employees in Minnesota and they are scared of a challenge. Just sickening. If you are going to go soft on the non conference, at least play one of them on the road to prepare your team for playing in unfriendly venues.
 

Gophers7633 said:

Guess the record for the first 15 games. We play two tournament teams from last year(Missouri and Maryland, both at home). Only two true road games(Ohio State & Michigan), one neutral site game(San Francisco). Worst case scenario has to be 11-4 IMO. Meaning we beat San Francisco and Nebraska. Lose to Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland.
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12-3
 


Gophers7633 said:
That would require beating one of Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan or Maryland. Certainly would be an upset. I'd say the best shot is probably at Michigan.
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We definitely can do it. Will we? I don't know.
 

Gophers7633 said:

Guess the record for the first 15 games. We play two tournament teams from last year(Missouri and Maryland, both at home). Only two true road games(Ohio State & Michigan), one neutral site game(San Francisco). Worst case scenario has to be 11-4 IMO. Meaning we beat San Francisco and Nebraska. Lose to Missouri, Ohio State, Michigan and Maryland.
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I’m going to say 11-4
 

TV schedule just hit my inbox


Edit, Twitter probably easier to read
 

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Acouple of games on peacock, that's interesting. San Francisco not televised? Too bad, that's our 2nd best non con game
 


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