Gopher's Basketball Non-Conference Schedule

As excited as I am for Football season I have no problem looking into the future a little ways for Gopher’s Basketball.  Those guys over at the Gopher’s athletic department final got the non-conference schedule finalized and well… here it is…

Date		Opponent	Location
Nov. 2	Tuesday	Northeastern State (Ex)	Williams Arena
Nov. 8	Monday	Winona State (Ex)	Williams Arena
Nov. 12	Friday	Wofford	Williams Arena
Nov. 15	Monday	Siena	Williams Arena
Nov. 18	Thursday	Western Kentucky	Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Nov. 19	Friday	Hofstra/North Carolina	Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Nov. 21	Sunday	TBD	Puerto Rico Tip-Off
Nov. 24	Wednesday	North Dakota State	Williams Arena
Nov. 29	Monday	Virginia	Williams Arena
Dec. 4	Saturday	Cornell	Williams Arena
Dec. 8	Wednesday	@ St. Josephs	Michael J Hagan Arena
Dec. 11	Saturday	Eastern Kentucky	Williams Arena
Dec. 15	Wednesday	Akron	Williams Arena

*There should be 12 games, and the last would be the 23^rd or 24^th vs South Dakota St. although im not to sure why it’s not on here.

A couple of things…

This schedule looks awfully similar to last year’s schedule, no one spectacular is coming to the barn and we should sail pretty smoothly through the majority of the schedule.  We get a favorable draw in the Big/Ten ACC Challenge (vs. Virginia) and we will have a very good chance to notch a win vs. the Cavaliers.

This schedule leaves very little room for error, like the last couple years we really can’t afford to slip up here because there’s no real chances for big wins to make up for a bad loss.  Even more than the last couple years, how we do in the Big Ten will be more important than ever.

Our best chances for marquee victories come in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off (like Butler last year in the 76 Classic) if we can get past Western Kentucky (and North Carolina can beat Hofstra) we will have a big matchup against North Carolina and regardless if we lose or win that one, we have another shot at a solid win against teams like Vanderbilt, Davidson, Nebraska, or West Virginia.  I think we need 2 wins in this tournament so that when Selection Sunday comes our resume doesn’t completely rely on our big ten performance.

I think to come out successful from our non-conference play, we need a record of 11 – 1 (add another 10 or 11 during big ten play and 1 from the big ten tournament, 22 or 23 wins will get us to the dance).  We’ll probably end up 10 – 2 as somehow we will lose a game we shouldn’t, but as long as we can notch a solid win over a team like North Carolina, Vandy, or West Virginia that would be ok.  And who knows maybe a couple teams we beat like Siena, Cornell, Virginia, or Wofford does well and helps our RPI out.

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A Couple other unrelated things…

Here’s a post I started over at the GopherHole about what upsets would be the most fulfilling.  You can read about that by clicking here 

Big Ten Title Game to take place in Lucas Oil Stadium

I’ve only seen it from the outside but it’s a cool looking place.  I don’t have any problems with them putting the game there.  It would be kinda cool if they would rotate the game location year to year, like the super bowl (Fingers crossed for Soldier Field)