Who 👃a 🌽 shucking on Sunday besides me?

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This next game is important, but the most important game on the schedule is Illinois. We HAVE to win that game in order to make the tourney IMO.
I think they will have to beat both Nebraska & Illini to have any chance unless they go very deep in the conf. tourney.
 

Win tomorrow and Thursday, and watch the chatter around the Gophs and the Dance jump tremendously. They will be on many "sleeper" lists.
 

I know everyone usually pooh-pooh's the NIT, but some people have made the case it would be nice to see those games and a clear program success step. It would be fun.






 

Is anyone else surprised Minnesota is a 7.5 point favorite? Really? They've consistently been underdogs -- and covered.

Nebraska is 16-1 at home. Minnesota 2-5 on the road.

Gophers lately have looked like a solid NCAA Tournament team and yet way too young to be called consistent.

Gophers will double-cover the 7.5 before they give it away. Gophers by 4 more like it. Shocked the spread doesn't have the Gophers as an underdog.
 
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Is anyone else surprised Minnesota is a 7.5 point favorite? Really? They've consistently been underdogs -- and covered.

Nebraska is 16-1 at home. Minnesota 2-5 on the road.

Gophers lately have looked like a solid NCAA Tournament team and yet way too young to be called consistent.

Gophers will double-cover the 7.5 before they give it away. Gophers by 4 more like it. Shocked the spread doesn't have the Gophers as an underdog.
There's a 0% chance Minnesota is favored against Nebraska.
 



I may have made a mistake in being critical about the horrible non-conference schedule. It just hurts the odds to get into the tournament. It just pads stats. Both men's and women's basketball teams had horrible non-conference schedules.

Well, it's actually more complicated than that. We now know that from the men's team and also the women's team that reached past the bubble point (to #8) before star player Mara Braun's injury and little depth yet on the young bench, a rebuild.

It turns out the bad non-conference schedule is like not having any games. It doesn't hurt you. But it doesn't help you.

I've been listening and reading comments to reconsider my opinion.

What matters are the Big Ten games later. You have to win those. The non-conference games then are used however you like. You can use them as preseason practice games. If you are contending for a top-8 spot then you want quality wins in there. But for a bubble team, you want to avoid tough game losses and focus on winning the big games you can't avoid, the Big Ten games.

Now there are two sides to this. I was not happy to have lame games on the schedule. I also winced when stats were quoted early in the season. But there's more to it than that.

I still don't fully understand this dynamic. But based on both Gophers basketball teams, that strategy actually may have been smart. It seems that it worked.

My apology, probably, not certain.
Which early season stats bother you? Hawkins, Mitchell, Payne, Cam, and Fox all have better stats in Big Ten than non-conference. Garcia just as good.
 

Which early season stats bother you? Hawkins, Mitchell, Payne, Cam, and Fox all have better stats in Big Ten than non-conference. Garcia just as good.


On the women's side it's a joke. Just the opposite. Wow, look at that kind of stats, and then where did they go. I cited both programs and posted what I did at both sports sites.

But if I have to give a number for the men I'll say 80-60 over Bethune-Cookman -- #316 NET Rankings -- and 97-64 over New Orleans, Christie 20 points.


I actually don't know. The fact it actually worked out for both teams tells me my criticism earlier may have been wrong. If it was so bad then why did the women's program get to a projected #8 seed before the Braun injury and Gophers men now talked about as a solid Tournament team?

I really don't know. I'm eager for more feedback. Maybe it's a lesson learned on how to play your cards if you are a bubble team. I don't know.
 
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I may have made a mistake in being critical about the horrible non-conference schedule. It just hurts the odds to get into the tournament. It just pads stats. Both men's and women's basketball teams had horrible non-conference schedules.

Well, it's actually more complicated than that. We now know that from the men's team and also the women's team that reached past the bubble point (to #8) before star player Mara Braun's injury and little depth yet on the young bench, a rebuild.

It turns out the bad non-conference schedule is like not having any games. It doesn't hurt you. But it doesn't help you.

I've been listening and reading comments to reconsider my opinion.

What matters are the Big Ten games later. You have to win those. The non-conference games then are used however you like. You can use them as preseason practice games. If you are contending for a top-8 spot then you want quality wins in there. But for a bubble team, you want to avoid tough game losses and focus on winning the big games you can't avoid, the Big Ten games.

Now there are two sides to this. I was not happy to have lame games on the schedule. I also winced when stats were quoted early in the season. But there's more to it than that.

I still don't fully understand this dynamic. But based on both Gophers basketball teams, that strategy actually may have been smart. It seems that it worked.

My apology, probably, not certain.
Are you really this stupid?
 




OK, odds are up -- finally. Nebraska favored by 6.5.


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Nebraska is strong at home, Minnesota, not so good on the road. The guys have a tough one. We will find out.
 





The weak schedule objectively, definitively, unquestionably hurts the Gopher chances of making the Tournament.
Sheesh.

Yes, I totally agree that is the rational view. The calculator is what it is.

And yet if your checking account has more at the bottom line the other way, other kinds of value is making up the calculator value loss.

You wasted away the non-conference schedule value finding your team identity and timing against not back-breaking competition.

Boom, you get more value later in games that count, helped by the way the earlier games were "squandered."

I am the listener on this, not my idea.

I really do not know.
 

Yes, I totally agree that is the rational view. The calculator is what it is.

And yet if your checking account has more at the bottom line the other way, other kinds of value is making up the calculator value loss.

You wasted away the non-conference schedule value finding your team identity and timing against not back-breaking competition.

Boom, you get more value later in games that count, helped by the way the earlier games were "squandered."

I am the listener on this, not my idea.

I really do not know.
Matt Painter commented about our non-conference schedule after our tussle in West Lafayette and he said he understood and agreed with the approach.

I’ll take his opinion over posters on here who never coached a college basketball game or likely played in one either.
 

Yes, I totally agree that is the rational view. The calculator is what it is.

And yet if your checking account has more at the bottom line the other way, other kinds of value is making up the calculator value loss.

You wasted away the non-conference schedule value finding your team identity and timing against not back-breaking competition.

Boom, you get more value later in games that count, helped by the way the earlier games were "squandered."

I am the listener on this, not my idea.

I really do not know.
When that schedule was made there was no consideration of how it would impact a tournament bid. The team had won six Big Ten games in the previous two years. The schedule was made based on how to get a team with five new players ready to compete against conference competition. The right choice was made and we are reaping the rewards. Another good job by Johnson.
 

When that schedule was made there was no consideration of how it would impact a tournament bid. The team had won six Big Ten games in the previous two years. The schedule was made based on how to get a team with five new players ready to compete against conference competition. The right choice was made and we are reaping the rewards. Another good job by Johnson.
I couldn’t have said it better.
 




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