You have some weird dreams!
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We’ve veered into big ten fan fiction territory.
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And I’m in for it.
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A true sicko
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Hire His dad!
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Random thought but: Chris Holtmann has been at at OSU for four years, and the one constant in his tenure has been a severe collapse after reaching their peak.
In 17/18, OSU started the year 22-5 and got up #8 in the rankings. They lost 2 straight after that and 4/7, including a first game BTT exit as the 3 seed and loss in the Round of 32.
In 18/19, OSU started the year 12-1 and got up to #13 in the rankings. They lost 5 straight after that and 6/7, then fell even more after that losing 6/8 to end the regular season. They won 1 game in both the B1G and NCAA tourney before losing the 2nd game in both.
In 19/20, OSU started the year 11-1 and got up to #2 in the rankings. They lost 4 straight after that and 6/7. This was the first year they didn’t have a collapse to end the regular season though, even though they lost their last game vs MSU they won 4 straight before that. No postseason info for obvious reasons.
This year, OSU started the year 18-4 and got up to #4 in the rankings. OSU is currently on a 3 game losing streak, with a chance for it to extend to 4 to end the regular season.
Another thing about Holtmann: We’ll see how they do in the BTT and NCAA Tourney this year, but so far at OSU he’s 1-2 in the BTT and 2-2 in the NCAA Tourney. At Butler, Holtmann never won a Big East Tourney game (0-3) and went 4-3 in the NCAA Tourney, making 1 Sweet Sixteen in his 3 years and going to the Round of 32 the other 2. Of his 4 wins, the highest seed he beat was an 8 seed.
Earlier in the thread Dylan said that OSU was candidate for a first weekend loss and I think I agree. Chris Holtmann is a good coach, but he’s prone to prolonged collapses and poor tournament performances. Considering this season’s prolonged collapse is going to overlap with the tournaments, this makes me think he’s due for early exits in both. Or he’s going to prove me wrong and sweep his way to BTT and national titles.
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The storyline that will potentially develop around MSU is interesting if they can beat IU on Tuesday. Consensus seems to be that they have to beat IU, split against us, and go 1-1 in the BTT. If they don’t split against us, then they’d have to probably go 2-1 at worst in the BTT.
If they beat IU, that basically means they’re slotted in the 8/9 game and would have 3 shots to beat us a single time to try to make the tournament.
So Tom Izzo really DOES open his post-game presser by complaining that MD had a longer break than MSU. “Print it any way you want to. . .”
You just long to hear some of these coaches begin by saluting the other team in the good old fashioned way now and then. . . .
The discrepancy will be at most one hour on Thursday–we start our Tuesday game an hour before MSU. I’m sure he’ll be more graceful then. . .
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Yeah, I’m thinking that he’s just right for OSU. He wins enough to not be on the hot seat, but doesn’t quite seem elite. Matta had them at the elite level for awhile. I don’t care to relive that. Holtmann works out fine.
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Good stuff and I am of the opinion that this is actually a positive for Holtmann in that none of those rosters have really been all that great. This is a concern that has been outlined here that his roster management has been bizarre. Which certainly Holtmann deserves blame for.
But he can cobble some pieces together, put a coherent plan in place and get them off to a great start. Using this years team is a great example as Dylan noted they are quite “scoutable”. When you don’t have the talent making a counter to the scouting report doesn’t happen easily. Maybe in the NCAA when they are out of the “best scouted league in the country” (shoutout to Dakich!) they can see more success but I’m of Dylan’s thought that they are a prime upset candidate.
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I feel like the consensus is 2 wins is all that’s needed, not 3. A win over IU and say Rutgers in the BTT should be enough
My mentions are very divided and I’m not sure why this is being discussed in my mentions, but hey. Seems like MSU would be in great shape if it can get a win over UM to me. Long wait if not.
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Yeah I imagine a win over Michigan would nearly seal it. That’d be a win over 3 top 10ish teams. Not many bubbles teams have ever been able to claim that. Anything less and it will be close but possible if they win 2 others
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Is there some Minnesota connection that I’m totally missing with Musselman? Why on earth would he be interested in the Gophers?
I guess they’d have a realistic shot in that scenario. Still need 1 win against us to make it a sure thing 
I think he spent time in Minneapolis growing up because his dad coached the T-Wolves
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Yeah I feel like MSU is in that precarious spot where either 3 wins gets them in, but 2 wins leaves them right on the bubble/probably off of it?
As of right now they’re the 2nd to last team in on BracketMatrix, in on 58/100 brackets. All of those brackets were updated after Thursday but before today, so they account for MSU’s win Thursday but not their loss today. I’d think that after the loss to Maryland, MSU would be just on the outside looking in.
A win against Indiana would probably sneak them just on the right side of the bubble, but a home win over Indiana could potentially fall to Q3 territory before selection Sunday so that might not help as much as one would think. Then if you say Michigan beats them twice, I would think that counteracts any benefit from a win over IU and knocks them back out of the field. Then a first round BTT victory probably gets them back in, and a 3rd loss to Michigan puts them probably directly on the cut line, potentially the last team in or out.
MOV’s will probably matter too, since MSU’s NET is pretty bad compared to other bubble teams. So they’ll need to win big and lose close as much as they can. And any win over Michigan probably secures a spot. But if they go 2-3 down the stretch, they are as bubbly as a bubble team can get IMO, and once a few bids are inevitably stolen/other bubble teams make conference tourney runs I think we’d see MSU fall on the wrong side in this scenario.
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Hid dad coached the Gophers in early ‘70s. Won a B1G title too.
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His dad was the head coach at Minnesota from 1971-75 before getting out ahead of the posse (over 100 NCAA violations). I covered basketball for the Michigan Daily during his last year, and interviewed him after a game. To say he was an ass would be extremely disrespectful to asses.
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and was held significantly responsible for one of the worst sport’s brawls ever
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