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BASKETBALL #12 MT versus #5 Minnesota

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RaiderDawg78

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Sep 7, 2005
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They seem surprised to be as high a seed as they are.

We are a line or 2 under seeded again. We shouldn't have been a 15 last year against Michigan State and we know what happened.

They are good, but beatable. A 9 loss B10 team this year is not that good.

Butler as the the 4 is also beatable. They have a bad loss or 2.

Couldn't have asked for a better draw.
 
The opponent match-up works good. Our seeding number is really terrible. By the time Thursday rolls around, dump seeds out the window and let's play. Think we're fine.

The scary part of being #12: Had we lost yesterday we would have been left out. We HAD to win C-USA to make it; that is what seeding tells me here. Vanderbilt did not deserve a 9 seed. Play in game, maybe. At best. Fifteen losses and defeating Vanderbilt head to head certainly does not deserve a better seed, maybe not even at all. Illinois State should have had our #12 and we could have had Northwestern for the opportunity to play and beat Gonzaga. I think we could have beaten Gonzaga, that would have been a nice story into the Sweet 16.

Mick Cronin is right about selling tickets and television, that is what we have in a lot of these seeding match-ups. There are a bunch of mis-seeds throughout the bracket.
 
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Dick Vitale was singing the praises of the Blue Raiders. They asked him which teams could win it all and out of literally nowhere starts gushing about MT. LOL, then Dan Dakich starts ripping MTSU saying they weren't impressive against Marshall.
 
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Well, at least from a Minnesota perspective there might be a huge number of Minnesota fans in Milwaukee, since we can leave the house at 9AM and be at the game by car.

When the Minnesota fans get engaged in the BB team, they show up. Forget all the BS about hockey, Gopher Basketball is only second the Vikings in this town.

For anyone from TN intending to attend, downtown Milwaukee is very packed with bars and restaurants, especially right next to the Bradley Center and just over the river to the east. It sort of reminds me of downtown Nashville, so even if the weather is not good, you will have fun in Milwaukee. Make sure you get a hotel room downtown.

Chicago O'Hare Airport about an hour drive from Downtown Milwaukee

 
RaiderDawg78 said:
They seem surprised to be as high a seed as they are.

We are a line or 2 under seeded again. We shouldn't have been a 15 last year against Michigan State and we know what happened.

They are good, but beatable. A 9 loss B10 team this year is not that good.

Butler as the the 4 is also beatable. They have a bad loss or 2.

Couldn't have asked for a better draw.
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Gophers were 11-7 in conference play with road wins at Purdue, at Northwestern, and at Maryland. Vandy was neutral site. Should be a good close game. I think the Gophers have the advantage inside but the loss of Springs our starting 2 guard is huge. Tough game to predict. I'll be there, hope to run into some you at the bars for fun conversation. Goid luck and safe travels!
 
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Minnesota definitely has flaws and can be beaten. Losing Springs (Sr. G) will hurt even though he was struggling with his shot recently, he helped with a lot of little things including defensively. MN was scrambling to make the rotation work during the Michigan game.

Here is my one-sided Gopher Fan take. What MTSU does well, so does Minnesota. The Gophers have the B1G DPOY in Reggie Lynch. They are really good inside defensively, but Lynch and Murphy are prone to foul trouble. They held their own this year against very physical B1G teams like Mich St. with Bridges and Ward. A type of team built around their bigs and suspect around the perimeter. Location advantage, Minnesota.

The media and even Vegas is telling us the B1G is down and it might be. The issue is I don't see this as a great match up for MTSU. Do they have a chance? Sure. If I'm a MTSU fan I'd have to be feeling pretty confident especially if I'm buying into all of the 12 vs. 5 hype and which high seeds could be the next Cinderella.

The more I dig into it, the more I actually like Minnesota to come out on top in this match up. I expect a tough game that could come down to the wire.
 
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Full Measures said:
Minnesota definitely has flaws and can be beaten. Losing Springs (Sr. G) will hurt even though he was struggling with his shot recently, he helped with a lot of little things including defensively. MN was scrambling to make the rotation work during the Michigan game.

Here is my one-sided Gopher Fan take. What MTSU does well, so does Minnesota. The Gophers have the B1G DPOY in Reggie Lynch. They are really good inside defensively, but Lynch and Murphy are prone to foul trouble. They held their own this year against very physical B1G teams like Mich St. with Bridges and Ward. A type of team built around their bigs and suspect around the perimeter. Location advantage, Minnesota.

The media and even Vegas is telling us the B1G is down and it might be. The issue is I don't see this as a great match up for MTSU. Do they have a chance? Sure. If I'm a MTSU fan I'd have to be feeling pretty confident especially if I'm buying into all of the 12 vs. 5 hype and which high seeds could be the next Cinderella.

The more I dig into it, the more I actually like Minnesota to come out on top in this match up. I expect a tough game that could come down to the wire.
Click to expand...

You should expect your team to win, but we are more battle tested than many of your fans know. We for the most part have to go on the road for OOC matchups, we play a lot of road games.

It will come down to the basics for MT, we will have to hit some 3s, get your bigs in some foul trouble...but we don't have to play our best game to win on Thursday. Hopefully whoever wins it will be a great game.
 
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I hate to bring the refs into the conversation before the game even starts but they will be a huge factor. Big 10 teams like a play really physical. If it's allowed and we can't handle it, we'll get knock around and out to an early exit.
 
Mark Hollis is the selection committee chair for the NCAA tourney. He's also the Michigan State Athletics Director. Now it makes sense. That's why we got a 12 seed. LOL. Hollis is still salty.
 
I'll be honest, this will be a very tough game. I've watched and won money on Minnesota basketball these last few months big time as they've been a covering machine. They have some impressive wins including victories over Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, Maryland, Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas, UT-Arlington, and more. As the season has gone on they've gotten even better.

The thing that really matters is how hot (or cold) a team coming into the tournament is. And unfortunately Minnesota is 8-2 over their last 10 games coming into this (Would have loved to have played Wisconsin who is just 5-5 their last 10).

So we are running into a team that is playing some good basketball right now. It's going to be an absolute battle. The line in Vegas is a pick'em and I'd say that's a fair assessment.

It's really going to come down to who shows up and who doesn't. I feel like if we play to our potential and Upshaw, Potts, and Williams plays their best game, we'll win by double digits. However; if the 3's don't fall then we will almost certainly lose.
 
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Full Measures said:
Minnesota definitely has flaws and can be beaten. Losing Springs (Sr. G) will hurt even though he was struggling with his shot recently, he helped with a lot of little things including defensively. MN was scrambling to make the rotation work during the Michigan game.

Here is my one-sided Gopher Fan take. What MTSU does well, so does Minnesota. The Gophers have the B1G DPOY in Reggie Lynch. They are really good inside defensively, but Lynch and Murphy are prone to foul trouble. They held their own this year against very physical B1G teams like Mich St. with Bridges and Ward. A type of team built around their bigs and suspect around the perimeter. Location advantage, Minnesota.

The media and even Vegas is telling us the B1G is down and it might be. The issue is I don't see this as a great match up for MTSU. Do they have a chance? Sure. If I'm a MTSU fan I'd have to be feeling pretty confident especially if I'm buying into all of the 12 vs. 5 hype and which high seeds could be the next Cinderella.

The more I dig into it, the more I actually like Minnesota to come out on top in this match up. I expect a tough game that could come down to the wire.
Click to expand...


All those factors in your favor, yet Vegas has the game as a pick'em. Looks to me like they're begging people to take the Big Bad Big Ten team who is 5 seeded and playing a glorified home-game against a lowly mid-major. The Vegas line really has me loving MT's chances here, however; it could be an overreaction to the spanking we gave Mich St. last year (Wire-to-wire beatdown).
 
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sWiley said:
All those factors in your favor, yet Vegas has the game as a pick'em. Looks to me like they're begging people to take the Big Bad Big Ten team who is 5 seeded and playing a glorified home-game against a lowly mid-major. The Vegas line really has me loving MT's chances here, however; it could be an overreaction to the spanking we gave Mich St. last year (Wire-to-wire beatdown).
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Yeah, something seems very weird about this game. Not sure what to think. I've heard MN -1 and I would expect late money to go that way but we'll see. There may be a hype machine brewing but not sure who it benefits. Minnesota would probably welcome the perception they are underdogs.
 
Raiderclyde said:
The opponent match-up works good. Our seeding number is really terrible. By the time Thursday rolls around, dump seeds out the window and let's play. Think we're fine.

The scary part of being #12: Had we lost yesterday we would have been left out. We HAD to win C-USA to make it; that is what seeding tells me here. Vanderbilt did not deserve a 9 seed. Play in game, maybe. At best. Fifteen losses and defeating Vanderbilt head to head certainly does not deserve a better seed, maybe not even at all. Illinois State should have had our #12 and we could have had Northwestern for the opportunity to play and beat Gonzaga. I think we could have beaten Gonzaga, that would have been a nice story into the Sweet 16.

Mick Cronin is right about selling tickets and television, that is what we have in a lot of these seeding match-ups. There are a bunch of mis-seeds throughout the bracket.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure MT would have been left out. I had my doubts as well. Then I watched one of the Bracket shows on CBS Sports Network last night. They had one of the committee members on set taking questions. I think it is the guy who will take over the committee next year. Pete Gillen of CBS Sports, who has been a big fan and advocate for MT most of the season, asked the committee member some direct questions specifically about MT. His questions about MT were his first questions. He asked what had to be done or could be done for programs like MT to get fair consideration for at-large bids. Of course, Gillen asserted MT would have deserved an at-large bid, but he lamented that most of the talk around the C-USA tourney was that MT had to win in order to get in. While the committee member would not (could not?) report on direct committee conversations, he definitely seemed to assert to Pete Gillen that no at large bid for MT assumptions would not necessarily have been true. While the committee member wouldn't go into exact conversations, he did report that MT was definitely a subject of much conversation that the committee was much aware of. The way he challenged Gillen's assumptions suggested to me that MT may have had a shot at an at-large if they lost in the finals type situation.

Admittedly, the committee member wouldn't confirm or deny type thing. Reading between the lines suggested to me that there was some reasonable hope for MT if MT had lost in the conf finals.

Pete Gillen also brought up what teams like MT could do regarding the problem of strength of schedule when most of the major programs refuse to play teams like MT. To that, the committee member provided little in only asserting that they could not force teams to schedule other teams. He admitted it was a problem. In my opinion, it would be nice if the committee would at least send a message that programs playing highly rated "mid majors" would be looked upon favorably as a willingness to take on any and all good teams in regards to strength of schedule.
 
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