159K viewers is why hockey games are regularly joined in progress while wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, etc. are on.159k viewers is um...well...
Oh I know...if only people around here understood how bad that number is they might not complain so much about why some games aren't shown or why not much production value is put into it for most schools. Re-runs of 80s sitcoms do those numbers...
Oh yeah, I knew you were well aware, I just went the extra step of laying it out for the people that complain about how "little" attention the Gophers get, even though it's objectively more than any other team in the country.159K viewers is why hockey games are regularly joined in progress while wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, etc. are on.159k viewers is um...well...
Oh I know...if only people around here understood how bad that number is they might not complain so much about why some games aren't shown or why not much production value is put into it for most schools. Re-runs of 80s sitcoms do those numbers...
B1G refs... corrupt, or just incompetent?
Another week down the stretch run with the NCAA tournament bracket getting more locks. This last week, we added 3 certainties to the postseason field in MN, Maine and WMU with OSU, BU, Providence, UConn, and DU looking EXTREMELY likely to join them and lock things in this weekend as the RPI difference between them and the cut has stayed quite large and DU, who's closest, will get rid of their last chance for extremely "bad" losses this weekend with Miami. So here's the PWR implications for the week, again with a Gopher slant as we look to hold onto a 1 seed (and make Fargo a much more certain scenario). Current odds are at 61% but this weekend is going to go a long way in tightening the band of where we end up.
AHA: doesn't matter
CCHA: Mankato technically alive for an AL but would likely take winning out and losing to Augustana in the CC game. They have LSSU and BSU to finish the year and any loss here or in the conf tourney prior to the CC is going to really hurt them given where the RPI sits.
ECAC: has officially become QU and everyone else yet again. QU has Yale and Brown at home. They're looking highly likely to be within the cut line, just a question of if they win their games and falter in the ECAC tourney or not getting the ECAC 2 teams in or not. Important as an ECAC autobid would have a pretty good shot at being the Gopher opponent should we end up the 3, and we know how MN vs the ECAC has gone in terms of demons to think back on.
NCHC: DU with a don't lose pair vs Miami, ASU with a redemption shot at getting back into the field vs WMU (should be a super fun series; cheer ASU unless you're afraid of playing the Sun Devils for some reason) and some autobid only scraps. Theoretically, UND could win out and get to the NCHC championship game before losing and maybe squeak in but for all intents and purposes, looks over aside from the autobid
B10: cheer for PSU. There's still an outside chance we could sneak up to the 2 but probably takes MSU at least 2 games with us winning out and beating them in the CC game. 2 seed and drawing the AHA or a poorer ECAC or CCHA winner can make for a lot easier pathway for a team that has had some sleepy starts this year
HE: Maine at UConn the big one for Gopher fans. would be nice to get some breathing room as Maine winning a bunch of games would put the Gophers in a spot they probably can't hold them off from passing us as RPI is really all we have to compare the 2 teams. BU has a slight chance and has a home and home with NE but realistically if Gophers at least play decently down the stretch, BU shouldn't be able to make up the ground.
Bid Projections provided no extra bid stealers:
AHA: 1
CCHA: 1
ECAC: 1 (just looks like QU is the class of the conference, but we all know what can happen in a 1 and done)
NCHC: 2 (do or die weekend for ASUs AL chances and it just feels like WMU is a little better at everything and playing better hockey)
B10: 4
HE: 7 (think UMass or UML ends up being the cut line team as they play each other twice still; just a matter of if an autobid from somewhere else bounces them). If this ends up happening, we're going to see some weirdness in scheduling for the NCAA tourney
Whatever Michigan St is wearing looks terrible. Might be the different colored breezers or something. 🤮
PSU wins in the SO
Big win by ASU over Western Michigan and Northeastern big over BU.
Big win by ASU over Western Michigan and Northeastern big over BU.
Huge wins for the Gophers locking a 1 seed you mean 😎 especially when you add the Maine-Uconn tie
Now with over .01 over WMU at the 5 and a much comfier distance from Maine. 3-4 seed now pretty well restricted to MN, Maine, WMU and MN with a pretty sizeable lead. Win tomorrow and it'll be pretty close to locked and a very near lock to go to Fargo.
Elsewhere, not a whole lot that's going to move the needle much. NE is too far off the bubble at this point to make their win over BU mean much other than hurting BU. UMass tying UNH not a great result for them as they try hold off ASU and PSU from the last AL.