CBS on Gophers loss to Illinois: "could deal a brutal blow to their March Madness aspirations."

[BleedGopher]

per CBS:

Minnesota has been one of the most lethal teams in the country on its home court this year. It entered Saturday with a 13-1 record inside Williams Arena, and has managed to build out its burgeoning NCAA Tournament resume largely within the confines of its own venue. That's what makes No. 5 Illinois' 94-63 beatdown in Minneapolis all the more impressive. The Illini saw that record and, much like they have done the last month, crumpled it up and trampled over it.

For a Golden Gophers team on the tourney bubble, the loss -- and the way in which they lost by such a hefty margin -- could deal a brutal blow to their March Madness aspirations.

They weren't alone though, as fellow Big Ten member Indiana choked away a second-half lead to Michigan State. Both are now on the outside looking in of Jerry Palm's Bracketology.

That's why Minnesota and Indiana -- two bubblicious Big Ten teams -- are among our biggest losers from Saturday in the sport. As for some big winners and more of the two, let's start with Kentucky's win over a ranked Tennessee team and go from there.

College basketball scores, winners and losers: Blue bloods Kentucky, Duke, Kansas and UNC are still fighting

A look at the big winners and losers from Saturday in college hoops

www.cbssports.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[SanDiegoGopherFan]

I think they need to win out to make it

 

[Some guy]

I think they need to win out to make it

17 wins is a lock
16 wins is firmly bubble.
16 wins and a big ten tourney win against a team in the top 50 is a lock.

it really depends as much on others as it does on MN
There are probably scenarios where Minnesota goes 2-2 the last 4 and gets in without a BTT win.

The 16 teams nearest the bubble (8 in and 8 out), 6 lost today, 3 won. 7 didn’t play.

Lunardi sees Minnesota as the last team in today.
5 teams below is St Louis. Even if Minnesota LOSES out I don’t see St. Louis passing them.

a 10-8 team with 1 quality win is 6 spots below


it’s not that I see the gophers as that good. Nobody on the bubble is any good.
indiana at 12-10 is “in” with just 2 Quad 1 wins
It won’t take as much as you think to get in.
It will take winning a few which I’m not sure we are capable of...

 

[upnorthkid]

This year will be a weird one in how the committee approaches it. do they take more mid majors/non-power 6 teams with good records or do they let the perception of massively stronger conferences weight heavier even if it means taking a 9th or 10th best team in the league. how the wins are weighed this year will be curious given lack of home court advantage, lack of cross conference games, etc.

 

[kix4kix]

The purdue win might end up saving us

 

[MennoSota]

Enjoy the dance without the Gophers...

 

[Some guy]

The purdue win might end up saving us

For sure it was huge. Without that Purdue win this team is basically dead right now.

 

[howeda7]

17 wins is a lock
16 wins is firmly bubble.
16 wins and a big ten tourney win against a team in the top 50 is a lock.

it really depends as much on others as it does on MN
There are probably scenarios where Minnesota goes 2-2 the last 4 and gets in without a BTT win.

The 16 teams nearest the bubble (8 in and 8 out), 6 lost today, 3 won. 7 didn’t play.

Lunardi sees Minnesota as the last team in today.
5 teams below is St Louis. Even if Minnesota LOSES out I don’t see St. Louis passing them.

a 10-8 team with 1 quality win is 6 spots below


it’s not that I see the gophers as that good. Nobody on the bubble is any good.
indiana at 12-10 is “in” with just 2 Quad 1 wins
It won’t take as much as you think to get in.
It will take winning a few which I’m not sure we are capable of...

Maryland is solidifying it's bid today. There's a decent chance Sparty will pass us in the standings. If we end up on weakling Wednesday we're not making it with anything short of a title game appearance. I think they need 4 more wins, Weakling Wednesday excluded.

 

[Some guy]

Maryland is solidifying it's bid today. There's a decent chance Sparty will pass us in the standings. If we end up on weakling Wednesday we're not making it with anything short of a title game appearance. I think they need 4 more wins, Weakling Wednesday excluded.

You vastly over inflate the bubble.

nichigan state will definitely pass us if they go 6-0 and we go 1-3

Michigan state plays Michigan twice, Illinois, @maryland, and home against indiana. I think they go 2-3 at best. 2-3 wouldn’t pass us even if we went 0-4

 

[howeda7]

You vastly over inflate the bubble.

nichigan state will definitely pass us if they go 6-0 and we go 1-3

Michigan state plays Michigan twice, Illinois, @maryland, and home against indiana. I think they go 2-3 at best. 2-3 wouldn’t pass us even if we went 0-4

Yikes. I admit I didn't look at their schedule. Usually Izzo teams flip a switch about now and I think they have. But that's brutal. They're only one game behind us though.

 

[Some guy]

Yikes. I admit I didn't look at their schedule. Usually Izzo teams flip a switch about now and I think they have. But that's brutal. They're only one game behind us though.

Yeah. The good thing for them, is their schedule is brutal. If they go 5-0 they could be a 6-7 seed still.

the bad news for them is, I don’t think they go 5-0

 

[howeda7]

Yeah. The good thing for them, is their schedule is brutal. If they go 5-0 they could be a 6-7 seed still.

the bad news for them is, I don’t think they go 5-0

Even if they go 2-3 and we go 2-2, I could see them getting a bid over us. Same with Duke. Total wins are going to be pretty meaningless this year.

 

[Some guy]

Even if they go 2-3 and we go 2-2, I could see them getting a bid over us. Same with Duke. Total wins are going to be pretty meaningless this year.

What about quality wins?
Because if Michigan state goes 2-3 and the wins are against indiana and Maryland. Michigan state will have 0 wins against the top 6 of the conference plus a head to head loss against MN.


duke at least has a single quality win. But duke also has a bad loss or two. Duke also lost head to head loss to Michigan state so it is hard to put them in over Michigan state with similar resumes


right now here is the situation with those three
Minnesota crushed Michigan state
Michigan state beat duke

Minnesota’s best four wins are Michigan, Ohio state, Iowa and purdue

Michigan states best four wins are Rutgers, @indiana, @duke, and maybe Penn state?? I couldn’t tell you who 4 is

dukes best four wins are Virginia, Clemson, NC State, and Georgia Tech

 

[howeda7]

What about quality wins?
Because if Michigan state goes 2-3 and the wins are against indiana and Maryland. Michigan state will have 0 wins against the top 6 of the conference plus a head to head loss against MN.


duke at least has a single quality win. But duke also has a bad loss or two. Duke also lost head to head loss to Michigan state so it is hard to put them in over Michigan state with similar resumes


right now here is the situation with those three
Minnesota crushed Michigan state
Michigan state beat duke

Minnesota’s best four wins are Michigan, Ohio state, Iowa and purdue

Michigan states best four wins are Rutgers, @indiana, @duke, and maybe Penn state?? I couldn’t tell you who 4 is

dukes best four wins are Virginia, Clemson, NC State, and Georgia Tech

You don't think there will be any bias in comparing us to Duke or Michigan State? Kentucky is still like 5 games under. 500 and ESPN was salivating yesterday over how many more wins they need. It's a weird year having those teams with us on the bubble.

 

[Some guy]

You don't think there will be any bias in comparing us to Duke or Michigan State? Kentucky is still like 5 games under. 500 and ESPN was salivating yesterday over how many more wins they need. It's a weird year having those teams with us on the bubble.

I definitely think there is ESPN bias
More Kentucky and duke fans watch college basketball so they’ll get talked about every halftime


but I’m not a big selection committee conspiracy theorist

 

[howeda7]

I definitely think there is ESPN bias
More Kentucky and duke fans watch college basketball so they’ll get talked about every halftime


but I’m not a big selection committee conspiracy theorist

I don't think it's a conspiracy just a fact. If our resumes are close and it's between us and Duke, they're picking Duke.

 

[MUgopher32]

Yikes. I admit I didn't look at their schedule. Usually Izzo teams flip a switch about now and I think they have. But that's brutal. They're only one game behind us though.

Saying they flipped the switch because they had a good half against bubble team Indiana is a bit bold.

That team is bad.

 

[Some guy]

I don't think it's a conspiracy just a fact. If our resumes are close and it's between us and Duke, they're picking Duke.

Disagree
Any evidence to support they pick “names” with worse resumes?
I know they tend to pick power 6 over non power 6 but that has more to do with the fact they prefer quality wins to few losses.

 

[howeda7]

Disagree
Any evidence to support they pick “names” with worse resumes?
I know they tend to pick power 6 over non power 6 but that has more to do with the fact they prefer quality wins to few losses.

This year is so odd, I'm not sure you can rely on precedent. If a team is playing well, that will mean a lot. If they're sputtering in, it will hurt. If we were to play Duke or MSU on a neutral court tomorrow we would be underdogs in both IMO.

 

[Some guy]

This year is so odd, I'm not sure you can rely on precedent. If a team is playing well, that will mean a lot. If they're sputtering in, it will hurt. If we were to play Duke or MSU on a neutral court tomorrow we would be underdogs in both IMO.

I mean maybe they say “eye test” and maybe they do. But saying they’re going to just play the name game to pick the final teams is pure speculation. No evidence historically to back it up

 

[builtbadgers]

I mean maybe they say “eye test” and maybe they do. But saying they’re going to just play the name game to pick the final teams is pure speculation. No evidence historically to back it up

Agree, that is not how it is done.

 

[howeda7]

Saying they flipped the switch because they had a good half against bubble team Indiana is a bit bold.

That team is bad.

You sure?

 

[GopherGangsta]

You sure?

Shocking that Izzo has his team peaking in late February and Pitino's team is in a nose dive with injury excuses.

 

[Otis]

January 2021:
Gophers: Spend most of the month ranked in the top 25. Beating the top teams of the B1G at home and failing on the road. Impressive victories none the less.

Spartans: Struggling through with unimpressive games. dropping games Izzo coached teams should not and not getting a sniff of national recognition.

Late February 2021:
Gophers: Struggling to get a win anywhere. Can't even muster a competitive showing on their own homecourt against Illinois. They lose Gabe to a broken hand and have injuries announced to Robbins, Gach and Carr going into the biggest creampuff road games possible on a B1G schedule lined up like an excuse not to fire the head coach. Oh and 2 players voluntarily left the team.

Sparty: Calmly picking up wins no matter the opponent. Just took down the team that beat the Gophers by over 30 by almost ten. Creeping their way back into the NCAA lock list one game at a time even as the schedule draws nigh and the teams they play get harder.

Raise your hand if this sounds familiar!

Saw this with Tubby and now 8 years with Pitino.

You can't play guys 40 min a game and maintain your level of play for an entire season. It's plain and simple bad roster management.

 

[Some guy]

You sure?

This is proof Michigan state has a top 25 roster. Fire izzo

 

[howeda7]

This is proof Michigan state has a top 25 roster. Fire izzo

He has no track record or anything so.... sure, it's a valid comparison

 

[Go Gophs]

It takes guts to compete game in game out. It takes a coach that is willing to sell out 100% to push his guys to get them ready.

Getting pounded that bad by Illinois IMO, ended their season. We will see how it shakes out, but when you get beat that bad on your home court, it shows give-up. Any team/player with any kind of gumption just flat out does not let that happen when their season is literally on the line...