Much discussed on the board about future longevity of Pitino, TC, and to some degree Lucia.For kicks and giggles let's say this happens next year. Who survives?
Football: No rival wins and the Gophers go 7-5
and a minor bowl game. The season starts well with a 21 point win over Oregon State, but ends with a blowout win by the Badgers in Madison. The offense averages more than a touchdown per game versus last year, but the Gophers secondary is decimated by injuries and the loss of BBC and Murray. Is 7-5 enough of improvement considering no rival wins and a 4-5 conference record with wins against Rutgers,Maryland,Purdue, and Illinois? What say you?
Basketball: This would be based on Buggs and Gaston staying and McBrayer,Dorsey,and Mason reinstated. The young colts start fast losing only 3 games in the pre-season.One being the ACC challenge. Lynch is a force in the middle even through prone to foul trouble.Fitzgerald is a pleasant surprise giving them length on the wing. Sharp continues his steady play and shares equal time with Dorsey and McBrayer. Of the incoming freshman, Curry is not ready to play and is red shirted. Hurt brings a shooters mentality and has some very good pre-season games against lesser compitition. Coffey has a Murphy like pre-season; good game,bad game, but his ability to find an open teammate and play defense covers for his lack of offense. The conference season is another story. Hurt is not strong enough physically and has trouble on ball screens, thus he can't get his shot off. Fitzgerald also has trouble with the physical play in the conference. The Gophers end up.8-10 On the plus side one of the wins is against arch rival Wisconsin. They go 1-1 in the BTT. No dance. The NIT sees two home games that draw crowds of around 7,000. Gophers don't make it to New York losing in a quarter final game. Season record: 18-12. What say you?
Hockey: The season starts fast the 10 freshmen are now sophmores. They lose 2 games against UMD,and split with Minnesota State, and St.Cloud State leading up to the Mariucci Classic. They go.1-1 in the Classic.
They go 4-2 in the next 6 games against the BIG, trailing Michigan in the standings and leading up to the North Star Challange.Depite getting superb goal tending from Kautz, they lose both games. Michigan wins the outright title, but the Gophers win the BTT and and a spot in the NCAA. They lose a first round game in the West Regionals. The consensus is they are the 3rd best team in the State. What say you?
Football: No rival wins and the Gophers go 7-5
and a minor bowl game. The season starts well with a 21 point win over Oregon State, but ends with a blowout win by the Badgers in Madison. The offense averages more than a touchdown per game versus last year, but the Gophers secondary is decimated by injuries and the loss of BBC and Murray. Is 7-5 enough of improvement considering no rival wins and a 4-5 conference record with wins against Rutgers,Maryland,Purdue, and Illinois? What say you?
Basketball: This would be based on Buggs and Gaston staying and McBrayer,Dorsey,and Mason reinstated. The young colts start fast losing only 3 games in the pre-season.One being the ACC challenge. Lynch is a force in the middle even through prone to foul trouble.Fitzgerald is a pleasant surprise giving them length on the wing. Sharp continues his steady play and shares equal time with Dorsey and McBrayer. Of the incoming freshman, Curry is not ready to play and is red shirted. Hurt brings a shooters mentality and has some very good pre-season games against lesser compitition. Coffey has a Murphy like pre-season; good game,bad game, but his ability to find an open teammate and play defense covers for his lack of offense. The conference season is another story. Hurt is not strong enough physically and has trouble on ball screens, thus he can't get his shot off. Fitzgerald also has trouble with the physical play in the conference. The Gophers end up.8-10 On the plus side one of the wins is against arch rival Wisconsin. They go 1-1 in the BTT. No dance. The NIT sees two home games that draw crowds of around 7,000. Gophers don't make it to New York losing in a quarter final game. Season record: 18-12. What say you?
Hockey: The season starts fast the 10 freshmen are now sophmores. They lose 2 games against UMD,and split with Minnesota State, and St.Cloud State leading up to the Mariucci Classic. They go.1-1 in the Classic.
They go 4-2 in the next 6 games against the BIG, trailing Michigan in the standings and leading up to the North Star Challange.Depite getting superb goal tending from Kautz, they lose both games. Michigan wins the outright title, but the Gophers win the BTT and and a spot in the NCAA. They lose a first round game in the West Regionals. The consensus is they are the 3rd best team in the State. What say you?
