The Hoosiers are finishing up their cupcakes and the New Year is nearly upon us, which can mean only one thing: It’s Big Ten Preview Time! Here’s a look at the teams that will challenge the Hoosiers for the conference crown … or fall under the weighty boot of crimson dominance. Probably the latter. Today: Minnesota.
One thing the Minnesota Gophers will always engender for this humble author, whether right or wrong: gratuitous Fargo references. It’s less a pastime and more a disease, really, and therefore, in the interest of giving the Gophers their fair season preview like everyone else, let’s just get a silly Fargo quote out there to cleanse the palette:
Jerry Lundegaard: Now we had a deal. A deal’s a deal.
Carl Showalter: Is it, Jerry? Why don’t you ask those three poor souls in Brainerd if a deal’s a deal. Go ahead, ask them!
Jerry Lundegaard: The heck do ya mean?
Carl Showalter: [mimicking] “The heckya mean?”
Now that that’s out of the way, we can go about previewing the sneaky Minnesota Gophers. If you haven’t been paying much attention to the fellers up north there, you might have missed this: The Gophers are 8-1 this year. What you also might have missed is that not one of the wins has come against a team in the Top 50 of the RPI, and that in six of those wins Minnesota toppled weak over-100 RPI squads. So while Tubby Smith’s new squad will have almost 10 wins before conference play begins, the wins have come against teams — like our own Hoosiers’ opponents — that make it pretty difficult to learn anything of value.
What we do know, from last year and beyond, is that Dan Coleman is the Gophers’ best player. Coleman’s a truly tough defender and rebounder on a team lacking in both, and has lead the Gophers in points thus far this year while averaging just under two blocks a game. Coleman’s effective field goal percentage isn’t great — he’s only 18.8 percent from the three-point line this year — but he makes up for his outside shooting woes with tough interior play. Coleman did all of these things last year, and he is doing them again; he’s a safe bet to continue his play well through the Big Ten season.
In our experience with him, if there’s one thing to know about Kelvin Sampson, it’s that he has a pretty great sense of humor. He gets bristly at times, but most jokes are well-delivered and well-received. (Ahem: most of the time. Sometimes he’s not so nice.)
It’s never particularly easy to lock up top talent from another state. It’s even harder when that state has a university rich with basketball tradition and a 
Ripe for an upset? Not so fast
Nothing against Minnesota, I think they’re a nice story and a possible NCAA team if they finish fifth or better in the conference, but nothing about their resume screams: “We’re ready to knock off a top 10 opponent.”
Consider this: They’ve played three teams with RPI’s in the top 100 and lost all three times. (At Florida State, At UNLV and At Michigan State.)
If you thought IU’s non-conference schedule was weak, Minnesota’s was flat out terrible. They feasted on cupcakes like UC Riverside, South Dakota State, Army and Kennesaw State. Their best win, according to the RPI, is Nicholls State at No. 121.
Does this sound like a team that is ready to derail D.J. White, Eric Gordon and company?
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