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Minnesota Gophers 2024-25

I don't think you need an if clause on that last sentence. Even if Kaiser is back and healthy, they will be weaker at center, and that's always been a key position for GWH. It will be a struggle to stay in front of UMD.
 
ARM said:
I don't think you need an if clause on that last sentence. Even if Kaiser is back and healthy, they will be weaker at center, and that's always been a key position for GWH. It will be a struggle to stay in front of UMD.
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maybe that unfortunate outcome will lead to other changes.

my informed impression was already that the frustration in the Bierman Building was already pretty high, admittedly wisconsin was just on a different level this year. the NPI difference between wisconsin and OSU (8.234) is the approximately the same as between #2 OSU and #16 Princeton
 
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Unfortunately, it seems that is our future. "Wisconsin is good; nothing we can do about that." Gone are the days when we at least attempted to be good ourselves.
 
ARM said:
Unfortunately, it seems that is our future. "Wisconsin is good; nothing we can do about that." Gone are the days when we at least attempted to be good ourselves.
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Ten years ago, it was the other way around. Things change. George Harrison tells us all things must pass...
 
robertearle said:
Ten years ago, it was the other way around.
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Minnesota's problem is more severe than Wisconsin's was back then. Let's just look at the WCHA, because it gets much more complicated to consider the national picture.

Mark Johnson inherited a Wisconsin program that was third in the league; it largely stayed there for his first three seasons, although it was obviously trending upward in his third. Thereafter, the Badgers haven't been the third or lower in consecutive years. For example, one could make a case that they were third in 2013 and 2022 (they were headed for third in 2023 until they weren't).

Minnesota drops to third (or lower) with much more regularity. That's where they were in 2007, 2008, 2018, (2020 is incomplete) 2021, 2022, (2023 might get an asterisk, as you could shuffle the teams around from week to week, but if we go by final analysis, Gophers were third), 2024, and 2025. Minnesota's decade of the 2020s is shakier in terms of being competitive in the league than either program experienced at any point of the last 20 years.
 
ARM said:
Minnesota's problem is more severe than Wisconsin's was back then. Let's just look at the WCHA, because it gets much more complicated to consider the national picture.

Mark Johnson inherited a Wisconsin program that was third in the league; it largely stayed there for his first three seasons, although it was obviously trending upward in his third. Thereafter, the Badgers haven't been the third or lower in consecutive years. For example, one could make a case that they were third in 2013 and 2022 (they were headed for third in 2023 until they weren't).

Minnesota drops to third (or lower) with much more regularity. That's where they were in 2007, 2008, 2018, (2020 is incomplete) 2021, 2022, (2023 might get an asterisk, as you could shuffle the teams around from week to week, but if we go by final analysis, Gophers were third), 2024, and 2025. Minnesota's decade of the 2020s is shakier in terms of being competitive in the league than either program experienced at any point of the last 20 years.
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You're choosing to miss the larger point.
 
Minnesota is still acting like the program they were 10 years ago and that they can just be handed a national title game appearance. Are they doing things differently? I guess maybe they're trying—they have recruited a lot more out-of-state in the last few cycles and I welcome that, although probably a number of people don't. I don't think the "this goes in cycles" aspect allows for the fact that OSU has taken over where the Gophers once were. We're used to 2 1/2 teams being competitive in the WCHA at one time—now Minnesota occupies the half spot.
 
eastcoastgopher said:
Minnesota is still acting like the program they were 10 years ago and that they can just be handed a national title game appearance. Are they doing things differently? I guess maybe they're trying—they have recruited a lot more out-of-state in the last few cycles and I welcome that, although probably a number of people don't. I don't think the "this goes in cycles" aspect allows for the fact that OSU has taken over where the Gophers once were. We're used to 2 1/2 teams being competitive in the WCHA at one time—now Minnesota occupies the half spot.
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At one point, if there were 2 1/2 team. Wisconsin was the 1/2. Duluth and the Gophers. North Dakota rose some, Duluth fell, and has come back a little. Ohio State has risen. That's the point. Teams come and go, and there's no real telling over a, say, five year period which way it will go. Nothing is guaranteed, either way.
 
I can't put my hopes in blind faith and things evening out just because they have before. I need to see this team prove they're not going in the wrong direction—or stagnating. And there's very little they've done recently that shows me they're on the right path.
 
robertearle said:
You're choosing to miss the larger point.
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I'm really not, and if it seems that I am, then that's on me. For the first ~ 6 years, UM owned the rivalry, then the pendulum swung, and UW did the owning. In 2012, it swung back to the Gophers, before returning the to Badgers after 2016.

As Gopher fans, what we're experiencing now is different. In the past, there were years where no matter how much UM improved, we knew UW was going to be in the path to a championship. Yes, the Badgers experienced that in the other direction from 12 through 16. Now, we can't beat UW, we can't beat tOSU when it matters, we can't beat Clarkson, and we can lose to UMD when games matter.

You once posted something to the effect of when your team is winning, it feels like it will always win, and when it's losing, it feels like it will never win again. That's true, but this is beyond that. I've lived through stretches where we couldn't beat UMD or we couldn't beat UW. Within those stretches, I'd watch the Gophers play and I'd be impressed. At some point, they'd run into those better teams and lose, but they were taking care of their end. They improved, but it just wasn't enough to clear the obstacle. Now? When I watch them, it doesn't look like they are taking care of the things that are in their control.
 
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