Gopher / Tommie hoops

I won’t get too excited and I know everyone wants to crap on the coach, but the gophs now have 3 consecutive conference wins — including #15 last night and on the road against a decent Iowa squad earlier this week. I was able to see the Iowa game and kept expecting them to unravel but they hung tough even as the lead shrunk late. Be awful fun to see them keep this momentum.

St. Thomas is looking strong again in the Summit league as well, sitting in 2nd with a 6-1 conference record and a stronger overall record than #1 Omaha. They are a team worth watching and for now they still play in a gym that’s not much bigger than most high schools.

I personally think it’s ridiculous we can’t get a gopher-tommie game scheduled each year.

I’d love to see a Tommie / Gopher game each year. It would certainly drum up more local support for each team.

I’m pretty apathetic to the Gopher basketball team. They’ve been mediocre or bad for so long it’s hard to follow them. Once Tubby failed I think that set the tone for mediocrity. If he couldn’t turn the tide who can? I’m concerned with NIL that it gets worse.

Very true on the mediocrity, and it is odd that Iowa and Wisconsin are in the top 20 almost every year and the Gophers usually struggle to be in the top 10 of the Big 10.

Seems like Wisconsin and Iowa keep their talent in state. When is the last time a big time recruit stayed here? Maybe Kris Humphrey?

I can’t disagree. I’m an alum so I will always care at least a little, and if they’re on tv and the score is at least competitive I’ll watch. They’re definitely at a point where winning a few big ten games in a row is remarkable—- which obviously isn’t a good sign.

The gopher/tommie hockey games have been fun. I think MN knows they have more to lose than gain by playing UST in basketball right now.

Matt Moen wrote:

Seems like Wisconsin and Iowa keep their talent in state. When is the last time a big time recruit stayed here? Maybe Kris Humphrey?

Not sure you’re right on this. Wisconsin can’t keep a good instate BB recruit from running away. The Badgers are good at getting Minnesota recruits though.
We’ve been loosing good football recruits since Fickel came to town also.

mxskeeter wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Matt Moen wrote:</div>
Seems like Wisconsin and Iowa keep their talent in state. When is the last time a big time recruit stayed here? Maybe Kris Humphrey?

Not sure you’re right on this. Wisconsin can’t keep a good instate BB recruit from running away. The Badgers are good at getting Minnesota recruits though.
We’ve been loosing good football recruits since Fickel came to town also.

I do know Wisconsin does a great job of recruiting Minnesota.

I think the prevailing knowledge is you have to recruit within 500 miles really well. The gophers haven’t.

If you look at the top 5 WI High school recruits from each of the last 5 years……only 4/25 ever played for UW.

The Badgers do a phenomenal job at keeping the 500 mile radius 2 star guys home and developing them. The top notch talent bails for the big time programs though.

The Gophers have long had a completely different philosophy to recruiting and filling their roster. Remember all the money greasy Pitino overspent on recruiting to accomplish nothing in the Big 10?