With the Big Ten moving from an 18 to a 20 game regular season schedule, the Gophers will add both one home and one road game against conference opponents. Their Big Ten schedule layout looks like this:
Home: Indiana, Iowa and Penn State
Away: Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State
Home and Away: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin
Non-Conference: With teams typically having 31 regular seaon games on the docket before moving into conference tournament play, that means Minnesota will have 11 non-conference games this year as opposed to 13 in years past. So far, announced matchups have been announced for threee games:
Big Ten/ACC Challenge: @Boston College - Nov. 26
Home-and-Home Begins: vs.Utah
Neutral Site Game: Oklahoma State at U.S. Bank Stadium
Preseason Tournament: In addition to these three announced non-conference games, the Gophers are set to take part in the inaugural 2018 Vancouver Showcase in Canada. This will be an eight-team tournament that takes place November 18-20. They will get three more games here, with potentially two more matchups against high major opponents as Texas A&M and Washington have each confirmed their participation in this event.
Other 5 games: Coach Pitino has been reluctant to schedule more true road games in non-conference play, especially when the team is playing on the road in the Big Ten/ACC challenge. I would expect these other five non-conference games to be against mid to low-major opponents in the friendly confines of Williams Arena.
Schedule Breakdown:
-20 Big Ten Games (10 home/10 road)
-(Likely) one true non-conference road game (@Boston College)
-Four neutral site games (Three at Vancouver Challenge, one against Ok. State at U.S. Bank Stadium)
-One high-major non-conference home game (Utah)
-Five games to be announced at a future date
-Boston College, Utah, Ok. State, Texas A&M and Washington are all expected to contend for NCAA bids
This is definitely a challenging schedule for Minnesota this season, but with the returning talent and impact newcomers they have, it is definitely one that will have them battle tested and ready when it's time to get ready for postseason play. They will be playing the RPI game very well with this schedule. Coach Pitino has talked about how important scheduling is when it comes down to seeding and national respect, especially late in the season.
Home: Indiana, Iowa and Penn State
Away: Michigan State, Northwestern and Ohio State
Home and Away: Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Purdue, Rutgers, Wisconsin
Non-Conference: With teams typically having 31 regular seaon games on the docket before moving into conference tournament play, that means Minnesota will have 11 non-conference games this year as opposed to 13 in years past. So far, announced matchups have been announced for threee games:
Big Ten/ACC Challenge: @Boston College - Nov. 26
Home-and-Home Begins: vs.Utah
Neutral Site Game: Oklahoma State at U.S. Bank Stadium
Preseason Tournament: In addition to these three announced non-conference games, the Gophers are set to take part in the inaugural 2018 Vancouver Showcase in Canada. This will be an eight-team tournament that takes place November 18-20. They will get three more games here, with potentially two more matchups against high major opponents as Texas A&M and Washington have each confirmed their participation in this event.
Other 5 games: Coach Pitino has been reluctant to schedule more true road games in non-conference play, especially when the team is playing on the road in the Big Ten/ACC challenge. I would expect these other five non-conference games to be against mid to low-major opponents in the friendly confines of Williams Arena.
Schedule Breakdown:
-20 Big Ten Games (10 home/10 road)
-(Likely) one true non-conference road game (@Boston College)
-Four neutral site games (Three at Vancouver Challenge, one against Ok. State at U.S. Bank Stadium)
-One high-major non-conference home game (Utah)
-Five games to be announced at a future date
-Boston College, Utah, Ok. State, Texas A&M and Washington are all expected to contend for NCAA bids
This is definitely a challenging schedule for Minnesota this season, but with the returning talent and impact newcomers they have, it is definitely one that will have them battle tested and ready when it's time to get ready for postseason play. They will be playing the RPI game very well with this schedule. Coach Pitino has talked about how important scheduling is when it comes down to seeding and national respect, especially late in the season.
