After the Nebraska Loss, Gopher Basketball Season Still Looks Bright
Did anyone else sleep like garbage last night? My spidey-senses kept me tossing and turning all evening. “Write about Big Ten basketball” kept ringing in my brain.
For the sake of catching R.E.M. cycles tonight, let’s do this.
Current Big Ten Basketball Power Rankings (per @SBNation):
1) Michigan State
2) Purdue
3) Maryland
4) Minnesota
5) Ohio State
6) Michigan
7) Penn State
8) Northwestern
9) Illinois
10) Wisconsin
11) Indiana
12) Nebraska
13) Iowa
14) Rutgers— Johnny Minnesota (@MNsportsNstuff) December 7, 2017
Big 10 Basketball Update:
Gophers:
There isn’t any sugar-coating the Nebraska loss. Tuesday’s game was uglier than me playing pond hockey. The Cornhuskers are Big Ten bottom feeders. The 78-68 shit show was the second defeat of the year for the Golden Gophers (8-2 overall). The only other came at home against a top ten Miami (FL) team.
Minnesota has been led so far, by Jordan Murphy. The junior forward has recorded a double-double in ALL ten contests. National outlets are mentioning his name as an early season contender for Player of the Year. Murphy ALREADY has 3 Big Ten Player of the Week awards in 2017.
We are all talking about Duke’s Marvin Bagley, III, and we should. But, don’t forget about Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy, who is averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds with 8 double-doubles. Stud. pic.twitter.com/val98KLkAq
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) November 30, 2017
Perhaps the most positive news out of Gopher’s camp has been the return of Dupree McBrayer. The Queens native missed the Miami contest due to a “leg infection.” As that’s an injury you don’t hear of often, there was concern regarding his status. Any worries were put to bed when he returned for the Rutgers contest. It was GREAT to see him back. With depth being my main concern, a long-term injury is the LAST thing we need.
The current polls have Minnesota ranked 14th. They were released prior to the blemish in Lincoln. Fans can fully anticipate that we will be dropping in next week’s version, no matter what happens Saturday vs Arkansas. The Maroon and Gold will now play 5 straight out of conference games, before returning to Big Ten action in early January.
Rest of the Conference:
Surprise, surprise, the team from East Lansing tops both the polls and power rankings. Someone go convince Tom Izzo to retire. PLEASE! Pitch him on sipping cocktails in Barbados with Rihanna, or something. We need to get the perennial conference powerhouse out of here.
Michigan State is currently 3rd in the country. They bolster a 8-1 record. Their only loss came against 1st ranked Duke. Future lottery pick, Miles Bridges, is leading Sparta with 15.4 points per game.
ICYMI: Miles Bridges dunked on his own teammate tonight. pic.twitter.com/caRQwyOx42
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 1, 2017
As of Friday; MSU, Ohio State, and Purdue are all 2-0 in conference play. The 11 other teams ALREADY have at least one Big Ten loss.
Ohio State is a football school and always will be. The Power Rankings currently have the F**keyes sitting behind the Gophers. I’m writing their asses off.
To Ohio State Football,
Sorry, not sorry.
From:
Iowa Hawkeye Football pic.twitter.com/HZd4AdPAbC— Nick (@Nick14Held) December 3, 2017
That’s not the Case Keenum (see what I did there) for the Boilermakers. Even with Caleb Swannigan leaving for the NBA, they’re good. SB Nation has them just behind MSU. However, their losses to Tennessee and Western Kentucky look just as bad, if not worse, than MN’s two blemishes.
April fools came early (or late) for Maryland who was ranked third before the season started. They have three losses already. One of those was AT HOME vs. St. Bonaventure. St. who? Exactly. They snuck out of Illinois with a one point victory. If they blew that one, the Terapins would already have four losses. There’s a reason they didn’t receive a single vote in the latest polls.
Minnesota will resume Big Ten Play on 1/3/2018. In the interim, let’s run these non-conference games: Arkansas, Drake, Oral Roberts, Fl. Atlantic, and Harvard.
Next: Minnesota @ Arkansas (5:45 CST. Saturday, 12/9)
Johnny Minnesota @mnsportsnstuff
Minnesota Sports Fan MinnesotaSportsFan.com
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