Ski-U-Mah Report: Two teams enter . . . TBD
Big night on campus at the U as the Gopher Men's Hoops team tips off at 6:10 and the Gopher Men's Hockey plays UMD in the Final Five 'play-in game' at 7:07.
I'm thinking the most likely outcome is that the hoops team ends it's season while the hockey team takes the next step to a NCAA tourney bid (hockey selection Sunday is this weekend.)
5 Comments:
Just to add to jan's point on the hockey, the Gophs are right on the bubble at the moment. And they happen to be sharing that bubble with UMD. There's a chance the winner of this game gets the last at-large bid to the NCAA's, depending on what St. Lawrence does. Loser needs to hope no out of contention team runs the table in their conference tournament, and that the Pairwise keeps them in front of Miami, who gave the WCHA a blessing by losing their opening series in the CCHA tournament to Northern Michigan. They're the last ones in right now, behind UMD, and St. Lawrence are the first ones out at the moment. St. Lawrence has Yale (who's better than you think) in the ECAC tournament this weekend, so they'll move up if they win. Ergo, root for the Elis.
On hoops, I think the Gophs match up well with Texas. They're undisciplined (Rick Barnes's trademark) and pretty reliant on Abrams to score from outside. I'm not aware of them being a particularly strong defensive team, which should help us score some points. I think our tough D could drag them into a game in the low 60s, which makes it a tossup. I''m pulling hard for the Gophers, despite the pain I'll endure watching Duke run them off the court in Round 2, because despite what I've just said about Texas, the scare the shit out me against Duke. They strike me as the quintessential underachieving, play to the level of your opponents team that would have a good chance of coming out and playing the game of their lives against us.
March 19, 2009 at 9:55 AM
MCA - When you root for a winner, you're bound to have "that fear" of teams like Texas. It comes with cheering for one of the best programs of all time. Enjoy it . . . but at the same time get ready for your Aunt Betty to mention how she had turned on the t.v. to see someone talk about how Duke basketball lost a game and, say, didn't you go to Duke?
March 19, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Yeah, lately it's been more like "get ready for the tsunami of disproportionate, irrational hatred that 90% of the bitter white people of America have for Duke." It will come pouring out of them whether you win or lose, as either an unjustified sense of schadenfreude or a blind rage mixed with idiotic conspiracist comments. I kind of like the fact that no one's giving them the slightest thought this year when talking about possible contenders. They're the least talked about two seed conference champ from the top RPI conference I've seen in a long time. Let's hope they stay under the radar but keep winning.
March 19, 2009 at 12:19 PM
I am well aware that I am biased, but I think the hoops squad has a shot tonight. Sampson is going to have his hands full with Pittman tonight (he's goign to be giving away at least 100 lbs).. I think the gopher perimeter D should be able to contain Abrams... but I don't know what they're going to do inside..
Oh, and MCA.. I don't think Duke basketball and under the radar ever go together, but I do look forward to the potential 2nd round match up- that is assuming that Duke gets by powerhouse Binghamton
prediction gophers win by 36, but again, I tend to be a little biased.
As for hockey- I don't follow it- so I will defer to the others on here, who clearly have a more firm grasp on the situation- all I can say is go gophers.
March 19, 2009 at 2:25 PM
Update: hockey lost 2-1 last night. Had 40 shots on goal, but UMD's keeper must have been red hot. As per earlier comment, root for Yale tonight, as difficult as that may be to stomach.
March 20, 2009 at 12:42 PM
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