Gopher Men

[Scott M]

How do you like the Gopher Men now?

Just kidding. I know they haven't played anyone. It is refreshing to see a team without any big names that play together, show some effort on defense, and actually do some of the little things. They could steal a game or two during the conference season. The Big Ten only has Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Illinois and real standout type teams and everything else is wide open.

[Willy]

Like you said, they haven't played anyone yet. But it's still fun to see a Monson coached team that actually defends and rebounds the ball. I think that the scrappy team that they are turning out to be will steal a few games and should be expected to be pretty tough at home. This weekend will be a real test for them. Iowa is tough. I wouldn't be too suprised if they won at least one of their upcomming two road games though. They need a big victory to get people interested again and bring the barn back to the rocking, loud, and feared place to play that it once was.

[BIG ISLAND DUDE]

I think this team may have a shot at bursting someones bubble come march... If not, then a nice long run in the NIT.

[Willy]

Good road win last night at Value City. Buckeyes aren't great but there are some kids on their team with talent. Nice to see us come back and fight for a win. Last few years these are the kinds of games we always lost. Tough loss at Iowa but I wasn't expecting that one anyway. Michigan State this weekend... Man that would be good to win that one. Then maybe you might start seeing a little tourney talk about the good ole gophers.

[bigbucks]

I think the Big Ten is going to be hard pressed to find many guys that can stop Grier on the drive. If he can hit enough from the outside to keep them honest & Robinson & a few others can continue to shoot well enough to hurt zones, they're going to continue to win some games. If they could finish 4th or 5th in the conference, with their good nonconference record, patsies or not, they'll be playing in the big dance.

I like they're chances, like someone else said they don't really have any stars & they play defense, as well as move the ball on offense. Even last night against OSU, Grier was unselfish & only took over when he had to & when it became painfully obvious they couldn't stop him.

[Willy]

Nice win last night against the Hoosiers. Hagen is a tuff kid. It's starting to look more and more like we have a chance at the dance! I'm starting to get excited. We've waited a long time to see an NCAA berth.

Go Gophs!!!

[Big Pine Walleye]

Go Gophers--if they can hold there own on Saturday I think that they will start to get more and more national attention!! It sure is fun to watch a TEAM that works hard on both ends of the floor!

[Down to Earth]

I will be upfront right away and saying I do not follow basketball all that much. About all I do is follow a couple teams to see how they are doing record wise, etc. and then watch a few games of the Tourney in March. I've lived in MN for 5 years now, so I hear some talk on the Gophers here and there.

My question to you guys then is how much if the improvement you have seen in the Gopher men this year is a result of being more of a team game. What I mean in that is this is the first year in a while where the bulk of the attention wasn't the team, but how the team could improve the numbers of a player so they can benefit in boosting their NBA Draft Stock, e.g. Pryzbilla, Rickert, Humphries.

Thanks.

Andy

[BIG ISLAND DUDE]

They actually play D-fense. As apposed to standing around pissed off because the superstar comes first. This is the best team since the Final four team(I hope the NCAA dosent read this, they might get mad at me for using The words "Final Four" in a Gopher thread)

[nickjcc22]

A great performance against INdiana, I was at the game, tough Defense and decent ball movement, then todays nice little whooping by the number one ranked fighting illini, the ten point start hurt and we nevr could recover.

[Eric_Sieve]

The thing is though, the loss wasn't a let down...i mean Illonis could be anyone in the nation, let alone the confrence!

[Willy]

I wouldn't say that this is the best team since '97. But they probably play the hardest. There's not a ton of talent on this year's team but they play like winners and are not afraid to win a close game. I think part of the reason is that this year we have guards that can handle the ball and a little pressure. The Illinios loss was expected. It would be great to steal this next one at Ann Arbor because when we come home we have Wisconsin who has owned us for the last 5 years.

[knoppers]

well they got another feather in the cap today, beating ranked wisconin. this team has an outside shot at making the final 64, that would be great, if not they should make the NIT tourney for sure.

[Willy]

That was a nice win, wasn't it!! Love to watch these guys and am getting more excited every game.

As of now, the gophers are a lock to get into the tournament. They are 16-6 (6-3) and third in the Big Ten right now. I feel that if they win their winnable home games and take one on the road or win one in the Big ten tourney, they are in. I don't care for the NIT at all and am sick of playing there. It would be a disappointment now if we ended up there, even though at the start of the season I would have said that would have been a successful season.

[bigbucks]

Four more wins in the Big Ten regular season & we're in. 1 or 2 wins in the Big Ten tourney would help, but I don't think are a necessity. Since we might not play that good of a team in the first round we may need to win that just to preserve our spot.

Very fun team to watch, they play good D & share the ball, no egos in the way on this team.

[pudge]

What was that? What happened against NW? Are you kinding me. Is it the typical MN sports team curse? I don't mean to sound negative, by now I guess we all should be used to it. I think they still got a solid shot at the NCAA's. Sucks that 4 of their last 6 are on the road. If they can pull 4 or maybe even 3 W's out of there and win a couple in the Big Ten tourney, I think they have a legitimate shot.

[schweady]

ESPN's Bracketology page - updated today - still has them in, even after the fiasco at Indiana. (I know, I was scratching my head at that one, too.) They're one of the 'Last 4 In' and projected as a #12 seed. Up against Pitt in the 1st round. Another couple of losses and we start lining up our NIT tix...

[Willy]

If we end up playing in the NIT after the start that we had, I would be very disappointed. This always happens to Munson's teams. They start out strong, have a great shot at making the dance and then fold up down the stretch and wonder why they weren't picked for the dance. Just frustrates the h!ll out of me!! Munson needs to get them to play strong at the end here and get in the dance. It's about time we get there!!!

[schweady]

Great defense tonight against Iowa. (first one to 60, wins) Grier was giving up the ball a lot more often - 5 or 6 assists, and Hagen was awesome underneath after those first few frustrating minutes - 17 rebounds. Gophs gotta learn to play the full 40 minutes, though. Started to look a little like the Northwestern fiasco for a while there. Won't say NCAA is a 'lock' just yet, gotta go to West Lafayette for Keady's final home game...

[Willy]

Well people, you can dang near pencil us in the tournament now!! Great comeback win! A-rob carried us with his 3 pointers once again. All we need is us to not flop at Penn State and we are back where we belong in the tourney!!!

[beer batter]

Honestly, I think we'll be in the tourney regardless of what we do at Penn St. One more win would guarantee it though, whether that be at Penn St. or in the Big Ten Tourney.

[Willy]

I don't know. I think that a loss at Penn State would severely hurt our tourney chances. They have an RPI of 242. Even beating them will bring ours down. Also Indiana is coming on and we will probably have to face them in the Big Ten tourney. If we lose here and it is between us and Indiana, a loss at Penn State and at home against Northwestern will look ugly. I doubt they will take more than 4 from the big ten. (although I think if Indiana keeps up there should be 5) They must beat Penn State in my opinion and I think they will quite handily.

[bigbucks]

I think we have to beat Penn State & we should get in, but could still get shorted. I agree a loss to a team as poor as Penn State this late in the season, even if it's on the road would really hurt us & probably end us without a big run in the conference tourney. We'll most likely play Indiana in the Big Ten tourney, we need to at least have a good showing against them. If we win that one & beat Penn State, I don't see how the committee could leave us out.

[Willy]

Agreed.

It wouldn't hurt us any if Wisconsin beat Indiana tonight either. First time I'll be rooting for the Badgers! However, if you look into it, the gophers rpi is alot lower than Indiana's and they will complain about how tough their nonconference schedule was but it doesn't matter when you don't win any of those tough games!

[bigbucks]

True, but Indiana did beat Michigan State, which we weren't able to do in two games.

Did you see the thing on RPI's they posted, I'm not sure where & when? MN's RPI in the new format is 53, in the old format it would have been 36. What's to say the new format's right? Unfortunately, overall I think Indiana is a little better than us, as much as it hurts me to say that. I still can't stand them.

[Willy]

Yah, they did beat Michigan State and Wisconsin and might be better than us, that's why I think we need to kick Penn State's butt.

I did see that how our rpi is (I saw 48) and in the old formula it would be 33. With the new format, it gives better rpi's to mid majors. I don't think the new one is right and who knows which one they will go by. Indiana's rpi is in the 70's.

[GullGuide]

Well, with Indiana losing last night, even if the Goph's lose, which they shouldnt, they will probably still make the tourney.

[bigbucks]

I wouldn't agree with that comment. If we lose to Penn State, who's terrible, & then Indiana beats Northwestern, they'd still be ahead of us in the Big Ten standings. They already don't rate the Big Ten very high this year, so that's all they'd need to take Indiana & forget about us. I think as long as both teams win their last regular season game, we're both in. Too tough to choose one over the other.

Clemson beating Virginia Tech last night didn't hurt our chances either, they're probably out.

[GullGuide]

Well, I got that from Mark Rosen, Chad Hartman, Dan Barrerio....seems these guys know a lot more than either you or I.....

[bigbucks]

Sometimes, but they're homers like we are. They have to set it up so they can complain if it doesn't happen. They have to sell papers & get people to watch their news broadcasts.

I'm going more by what the national guys on ESPN are saying. I don't necessarily agree with the national media's thinking, but if they have us in we're more likely in than just if our local guys have us in.

Let's just hope we spank Penn State tonight & that part of this discussion becomes a mute point.