What 3 "Big Ten" teams will Gophers play twice next season?

[SelectionSunday]

With each team playing 14 opponents once and 3 teams twice, and the idea being to competitively balance schedules while respecting geography & rivalries, which 3 opponents do you think the Gophers will play twice next season? (you're not required to use my tiers)

Based on current NET rankings, as a general guide the 3 tiers could look something like this. Obviously, UCLA (currently the worst NET ranking of the 18 teams) is unlikely to hang around Tier 3 very long!

Tier 1 (play 1 of these twice)
#2 Purdue
#13 Wisconsin
#14 Illinois
#22 Michigan State
#52 Nebraska
#57 Oregon

Tier 2 (play 1 of these twice)
#59 Northwestern
#60 Iowa
#67 Ohio State
#73 Washington
#78 Maryland
#91 GOPHERS

Tier 3 (play 1 of these twice)
#97 USC
#100 Penn State
#103 Indiana
#104 Rutgers
#112 Michigan
#124 UCLA

I have:

Tier 1: Wisconsin (geography/rival & upper-tier program)

Tier 2: Washington (like the Gophers, occasionally make NCAA but typically toward bottom; guess we'll play one former Pac 12 team twice)

Tier 3: Indiana (once a blueblood, but not since Bob Knight got canned)

 

[Otis]

I’ll go with:
Penn State
Michigan
And Washington

I was trying to get us 6 wins!

Choosing 1 team from every tier makes it more difficult.

I’m sticking with Washington and Penn State. (Would have picked Rutgers but they have a nice class coming in)

Tier 1:

Coin flip between Nebraska and Oregon. I’ll go with Nebby.

Gophers get to almost go coast to coast!

 

[Gophers7633]

I'd go with Wisconsin, Iowa and Nebraska. That would give us a historically top of league team in Wisconsin(at least since 2000), a middling league team(for the most part) and a historically bottom of the league team.

My guess is the west coast schools will play each other twice. Then try to do their best when they travel east, like playing at MD and then Rutgers in a span of 3 days.

 

[MUgopher32]

I think a key thing with this, with the hypothetical tiers. It won’t go off this season alone.

Similar to non con battles(gavitt, big east/Big12, Acc/big10 etc..) they will look into what teams have returning/coming in when projecting. Expectations.

For example, I’m almost certainly UcLA would not be in the 3rd tier.

 

[HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving]

They cannot make New West go too far East twice, I suspect we will play a west coast team twice.

 

[tjgopher]

I think they will go totally based on rivalries and geography.

Basically, you play every team in the Big Ten once (17 games) rotating every other year home and road.

Then add 3 additional games each season.

I am guessing we will play Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska twice each and everyone else once.

I would see the West teams playing each other every year twice and the rest of the league once.

I don't think it will be all that tiered or all that random.

And, no one in power will complain.

Coaches are not going to want to take any additional "random" coast to coast flights for competitive balance.

 

[SelectionSunday]

I think a key thing with this, with the hypothetical tiers. It won’t go off this season alone.

Similar to non con battles(gavitt, big east/Big12, Acc/big10 etc..) they will look into what teams have returning/coming in when projecting. Expectations.

For example, I’m almost certainly UcLA would not be in the 3rd tier.

Yep, agree. Key returning/lost personnel & expectations will play a role.

 

[tjgopher]

Yep, agree. Key returning/lost personnel & expectations will play a role.

I don't think it'll go that deep. I doubt they do any tiers or groupings, unless based on geography.

They will make sure every team has their top two or three rivals (for many that will be a bus trip), and then maybe rotate in another team occasionally for variety.

 

[leib0039]

I would have to guess in at least year 1 they try to keep some rivalries going. Mich vs msu/osu, mn vs iowa/wis ucla v usc etc. I also think they will want some new marquee games like Mich St v UCLA Ohio st vs oregon. So I'll go Wisc Iowa and Washington for the gophers.

 

[Ope3]

I would have to guess in at least year 1 they try to keep some rivalries going. Mich vs msu/osu, mn vs iowa/wis ucla v usc etc. I also think they will want some new marquee games like Mich St v UCLA Ohio st vs oregon. So I'll go Wisc Iowa and Washington for the gophers.

For basketball, I don't think there will be a goal "to keep some rivalries going". It hasn't been in the past. Like several other years, the Gophers only play the Badgers once this season, and that's with only a 14 Team Conference. The rivalry is still maintained by at least playing them once.

I would like it to be strictly based on geography and rivalries, I but don't think it will be.

I would be fine with everyone's 2 plays deriving from the same Time Zone, with the Gophers at least getting either the Hawkeyes or Badgers.

PACIFIC - USC, UCLA, Ore & Wash
CENTRAL - Neb, Iowa, Min, Wisc, Ill & NW
EAST - Ind, Pur, Mich, Mich St, OSU, PSU, Mary & Rut.

Illinois and Indiana while in different time zones are pretty close in proximity and have a solid rivalry. If they want to go Home & Home, that would be fine too.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I think it was already announced that you play everyone once for 17 games and then the 3 extra come from rivalries/geography. From Big 10 website.

"Single-play home/away locations will rotate annually, and two-play opponents will be determined with consideration for competitive balance, geography and rivalries."

 

[Holy Man]

Competitive balance is a mirage in an 18 team league and massive roster turnover. May as well just keep the extra three based on geography and be done with it. In that same breath, it really does devalue the regular season championship. Much more likely someone sneaks in by playing the three worst teams twice. Also can work the other way preventing chances at Quad 1 wins and hurting tournament chances.

 

[Ope3]

I think it was already announced that you play everyone once for 17 games and then the 3 extra come from rivalries/geography. From Big 10 website.

"Single-play home/away locations will rotate annually, and two-play opponents will be determined with consideration for competitive balance, geography and rivalries."

The term "consideration" is pretty ambiguous. The Conference can consider all of those things, but ultimately decide that geography is the overwhelming factor for some schools but not others.

The TV/Streaming partners will also have an influence to drive eyeballs to their platforms under the guise of all 3 of those factors.

 

[shaggith]

My gut says the three teams will be teams we didn't play twice this season (removing Indiana from SS's prediction. I'll go with Wisco, Wash, and Rutgers.