Golden Nugz for 1-7-08

by PJS on Jan 7, 2009 1:00 AM CST in Golden Nuggets Comment 16 comments

For a would-be conference favorite, the Purdue Boilermakers under Matt Painter sure aren't acting like it. First they dropped the conference opener at home to Illinois. And last night they went to State College and lost to Penn State.

And with their upcoming schedule, the Boilers could realistically be 2-5? Yikes.

There next five games are against Wisconsin, at Northwestern, Iowa, at Minnesota and at Wisconsin. They could realistically lose twice to Wisconsin and maybe at Minnesota and Northwestern. In that scenario, the Boilers would be happy for an NIT bid.

For whatever reason, I've seen much less of Purdue than I have of most other Big Ten teams, so I can't really comment on what is ailing the Boilers. Maybe it's a much-improved Big 10. Maybe it's that everyone is aiming for Purdue. Maybe they just aren't executing. Whatever the case, the Boilers are looking like anything but a title contender.

Here we have Big Ten basketball power rankings from the Michigan student newspaper that has our Golden Gophers ranked #2. The writer cites the "complete team victory over Ohio State."
A local paper in Illinois gathers Bruce Weber's thoughts on the Big Ten, and the focus of the column is the much-improved Big Ten. These are great articles to read.
The Fort Wayne Journal discusses the coaching talent in the Big Ten.
We haven't really discussed this here, but there are rumors that Tubby Smith is/was/might be a candidate for the Arizona coaching job. I'm not getting too worked up about this because Tubby seems fairly invested here
J Money at Boiled Sports sums up my opinions on the college bowl season. That was a great game the other night between Texas and Ohio State, but what did it mean exactly?

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One Issue for Purdue

is that they played the Penn State game without Hummel and Kramer. It would be safe to say that if they had those two they would have won.

by duckman86 on Jan 7, 2009 1:12 AM CST reply actions

Bowl Games

Are really meaningless except for the BCS Title Game.

8 team playoff within the structure of the current bowls and continue the 25+ other bowl games for those that don’t make the top 8.

Round 1 would have been:

Florida vs. Texas Tech
Oklahoma vs. Utah
Texas vs. Penn State
Alabama vs. USC

Those games would then be huge and would build up to a true National Championship game like EVERY other NCAA sport and football division.

I’ll watch the game on Thursday but other than that I don’t even bother watching the Gophers most years in their meaningless game.

by FishingMN on Jan 7, 2009 6:12 AM CST reply actions

those matchup would not have happened though

if a playoff ever did exist there would not be three teams from one conference. The ACC and Big East would get an auto entry. It would be similar to what what we currently have with 6 auto bids and then probably only two at large. First round games would not have been as sexy but at least they would be meaningful.

Oklahoma vs. Utah
PSU vs. USC
Tex vs. V-Tech
Florida vs. Cincy

or something like that

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Jan 7, 2009 9:53 AM CST up reply actions

Bowl Season

I disagree. I love the bowl season. It probably comes down to just loving college football. There are some really exciting games. The Fresno/Colorado State game was highly entertaining. Southern Miss and Troy was also a good one. Boise State and TCU was great—seeing two teams with terrific offenses and defenses go at it. Cal’s running back had a great showing against Miami. Northwestern and Missouri played a good game. And the Fiesta Bowl was fantastic.

I guess I like watching these games because I don’t normally get a chance to watch most of these teams play. A lot of them run innovative schemes and have unheralded players that put up big numbers; that is fun for me to watch. Plus it gives me something to do in December—especially the early bowls that are on during the week.

by rencito on Jan 7, 2009 5:39 PM CST up reply actions

BCS is a joke

they claim that a playoff would diminish much of the regular season where currently every game is vitally important. But they fail to recognize that their current system renders the postseason as completely irrelevant with the exception of one game.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Jan 7, 2009 9:44 AM CST reply actions

And

The regular season still would be huge – you still have lots of drama to make the top 8 right? Losing more than 1 game will still kill most teams chances in any year.

by FishingMN on Jan 7, 2009 11:52 AM CST up reply actions

Every game isn't vitally important...

..see:

2008 – Mississippi 31, Florida 30, and Texas 45 – Oklahoma 35.
2007 – Illinois 28, Ohio State 21, and Arkansas 45 – LSU 38 (or something).

and on.

Every game is only important when Herbstreit, Musberger, and Corso want to eliminate a team from title contention. Like was done with USC this year. Then they can spend New Year’s Day whining about why USC is the best team they’ve ever seen, but we’ll never know if they were the best, even though they spent the past two months burying the Trojans due to the September loss on the road to OSU.

I don’t recall any announcer burying Florida or Oklahoma in the same way. It was beyond pathetic.

by JG2112 on Jan 7, 2009 2:57 PM CST up reply actions

I agree

I have no idea why USC was buried like that. They lost early enough and plenty of teams ahead of them lost. They looked like the best team I’ve seen this year.

by rencito on Jan 7, 2009 5:46 PM CST up reply actions

totally agree

I see no reason why Florida was the consensus #2 team and nobody even talked about USC.

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by GopherNation on Jan 8, 2009 8:50 AM CST up reply actions

The Arziona Rumor Is False

Tubby will retire at Minnesota in about 7 years.

by FortyYearCatFan on Jan 7, 2009 10:43 AM CST reply actions

with Saul being groomed as his replacement?

that is my guess.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Jan 7, 2009 10:55 AM CST up reply actions

I'm all for that

A Tubby to Saul Smith transition in 5+ years is just fine with me. Question is – will Saul get offers elsewhere before then?

by mraveling on Jan 7, 2009 12:14 PM CST up reply actions

Saul Will Be A Fine College Coach

A couple years of HC experience wouldn’t hurt.

by FortyYearCatFan on Jan 7, 2009 3:55 PM CST up reply actions

Whoa!!!!!!

Saul for head man? He’s Minnesota’s 3rd assistant right now. Vince Taylor and Ron Jirsa are well ahead in the pecking order.

I’d be much more excited ablout Taylor, who has the recruiting track record, as the coach in waiting. Though admittedly he’ll be in the running for other top spots. I believe he was in the running for WKU.

Maroon and Gold Headquarters: The Daily Gopher

by PJS on Jan 7, 2009 4:29 PM CST up reply actions

I'm with you PJS

I should clarify that I’m not endorsing Saul, I am making an assumption that this is Tubby’s intention/desire.

If the position opened up tomorrow I would be thrilled with Taylor.

what you say here can, and will, be used against you

by GopherNation on Jan 8, 2009 8:52 AM CST up reply actions

Not sure which way to go

While Saul has the pedigree, I don’t know that he has proven anything yet. Then again, why not? He must know what he is doing. I think those other assistants are higher on the pecking order because they have more experience. It wasn’t that long ago that Saul was playing.

by rencito on Jan 7, 2009 5:48 PM CST up reply actions