Gophers vs. Texas - A Very Quick First Look
by GopherNation on Mar 15, 2009 8:16 PM CDT
in Gopher Basketball
17 comments
Your Golden Gophers are NCAA tournament bound for the first time since the 2004-05 season and only the second time since Clem Haskings era. Here is your facts only quick glance at our opponent, the Texas Longhorns. For a seasons' worth of info on the Longhorn's basketball season head over to Burnt Orange Nation (easily one of the best college blogs out there).
Info
| Minnesota | Texas | |
| Seed | 10 | 7 |
| Record | 22-10 | 22-11 |
| Conf Rec | 9-9 (8th) | 9-7 (6th) |
| SOS | 37 | 44 |
| RPI | 42 | 41 |
| KenPom | 45 | 28 |
Starters and key players
| PPG | YR | Size | Minnesota | Texas | Size | Yr | PPG | |
| 6.6 | SO | 6-1 | Al Nolen | G | A.J. Abrams | 5-11 | SR | 16.3 |
| 12.4 | JR | 6-0 | Lawrence Westbrook | G | Dogus Balby | 6-0 | SO | 3.3 |
| 3.7 | SR | 6-5 | Jamal Abu-Shamala | F | Justin Mason | 6-2 | JR | 6.4 |
| 9.7 | JR | 6-7 | Damian Johnson | F | Damion James | 6-7 | JR | 15.4 |
| 6.4 | FR | 6-10 | Ralph Sampson III | C | Dexter Pittman | 6-10 | JR | 10.0 |
| 6.5 | SO | 6-4 | Blake Hoffarber (G) | Gary Johnson (F) | 6-6 | SO | 10.5 | |
| 5.3 | SO | 6-8 | Paul Carter (F) | Varez Ward (G) | 6-2 | FR | 3.7 | |
| 4.1 | JR | 6-5 | Devron Bostick (F/G) | Connor Atchley (F/C) | 6-10 | SR | 4.8 | |
| 5.1 | FR | 6-3 | Devoe Joseph (G) | Clint Chapman (F/C) | 6-10 | SO | 2.1 | |
| 5.5 | FR | 6-10 | Colten Iverson (C ) |
For both teams the starting lineups could look differently on Thursday. Hopefully someone other than JAS starts for Minnesota and Gary Johnson has been a starter for much of the season.
Both teams seem to have good size and it is a good match up for the Gophers considering the Longhorn's best scorers will be matched up with our best defenders. I'll get into the players and match ups more as we get closer to the game but this is just to help you familiarize yourself with the roster.
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I've already started a fanpost at burnt orange
I did it rather quickly. Give it a read and feel free to add any other points I may have overlooked, or just add to the banter.
I love how fans of a Big 12 team insist the Big 10 is mediocre!
Maroon and Gold Headquarters: The Daily Gopher
I can't wait
for the Big 10 to clean house. I think they play favorably when they play teams outside the Big 10. They aren’t used to defense for a full 40 minutes from 5 players on the court.
Got a Question:
I see you mentioned the KenPom rating in your story. I’ve been following his rating system almost all year and I really find it annoying. LOL This is the first year I’ve looked at it but I see Gophers have been ranked low all year. In fact, lower than Kentucky except for the last two weeks. Is this guy good or is it just his opinions? His figured don’t ever seem to jive with Sangrin or the others. I know he has a lot of numbers to back up his arguments, but like my daddy used to say “figures don’t lie but liers like to figure.”
I've found that it is incredibly accurate
his rankings are more of a predictor than say the RPI or Sagarin which are more static rankings. But over the last few years he hits a very high number of sweet 16 teams. For instance, last year 14 of the sweet 16 teams were in his top 20 (including 10 seed Davidson and 7 seed West Virginia). He missed on Western Kentucky and Villanova who were both 12 seeds.
He isn’t perfect but the further he gets into the season the more accurate his rankings become. Minnesota around 43rd seems about right to me.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Mar 15, 2009 9:08 PM CDT up reply actions
more than anything I love his stats
far more than his rankings. I love breaking things down by possessions instead of by minutes or games because style of play can dramatically affect stats. I love his breaking down of turnovers as a percent of possessions and rebounds as a percent of misses.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Mar 15, 2009 9:10 PM CDT up reply actions
Information
The opening Vegas line has the Gophers at 3.5 point underdogs against Texas.
We should have no issues shutting them down. They play four against five all the time offensively because their point guard, Balbay, is not allowed to shoot the ball. All we need to do is not pressure him at all.
We need to shut AJ Abrams down…that should be Al Nolen’s job instead of Westbrook’s. If Justin Mason or Damian James beat us then tip your hat, because they have not played up to expectation all year long.
Also, the Gophers are more physical than the Longhorns…so if we play physical we should be able to bully them around. If the game is “physical” the gophers win, but if the game becomes a finesse little horse contest Texas wins.
*Conor Atchley gives the Gophers huge matchup problems if he is shooting well*
by huff huff plop go the bricks on Mar 15, 2009 9:28 PM CDT reply actions
I bet we see that line go up
I’m guessing we will see it be more around 6.0 by Thursday—only because Texans like to bet more than Minnesotans.
I bet quite often and
Vegas hasn’t had much respect for Texas this entire year. I’m sure they would love the line to go up. Minnesota is a pretty good upset pick, especially if the line goes up.
by huff huff plop go the bricks on Mar 15, 2009 9:38 PM CDT reply actions
Louisville
I’m not happy if I am a Louisville fan. I get a #1 seed, but potentially have to play Ohio State in Dayton? I guess Louisville isn’t terribly far either, but Dayton is practically a suburb of Columbus. Dayton is probably the best place for Louisville to end up, but putting Ohio State there as second round opponent takes away much of the advantage.
a few years ago...
Louisville got to play Texas A&M in Kentucky in the second round or sweet sixteen (I don’t remember which). That was when A&M had Acy Law and was very, very good. I think A&M was like a 2 or 3 seed that year.
What comes around goes around!
by huff huff plop go the bricks on Mar 16, 2009 12:14 PM CDT up reply actions
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