Flipping through college basketball magazines this fall, you'll notice there's no preseason love for the Gophers men's basketball team going into the 2019-20 season.
The Gophers went 22-14 and reached the NCAA tournament second round last season, but apparently preseason predictions can't look past Richard Pitino losing three starters, including Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy.
The highest predicted finish right now for the Gophers is 10th by Street & Smith's magazine, which officially hit newsstands Tuesday. Lindy's Sports and Athlon Sports, already available in stores, picked the Gophers to finish 11th and 12th, respectively. There were no Gophers on All-Big Ten preseason teams, either.
Louisville's a popular Final Four pick. But the team that ended the Cardinals season in March is picked to reach the NIT at best. That might frustrate Gophers fans, who flocked to Des Moines in force to see just how much their team outplayed Louisville. The Cardinals do return a lot, though.
There are bright spots for the Gophers in preseason annuals.
A small picture of sophomore center Daniel Oturu is featured on the top right corner of the Street & Smith's college basketball regional cover. Former Pittsburgh guard Marcus Carr is also among the impact transfers to watch (although Athlon used junior forward Eric Curry's picture for Carr). Pitino isn't featured among the coaches on the hot seat.
It was much easier for magazines to pick the Gophers as a bottom-half Big Ten team, because of so much unknown. Seven newcomers are the most for the program since 2004-05. They also have no returning All-Big Ten players after Coffey decided to leave early for the NBA.
Oturu and sophomore Gabe Kalscheur, the U's two returning starters, aren't getting the same preseason hype as players who made the All-Big Ten freshmen team last season. Is that fair? Oturu and Kalscheur were snubbed IMO. They together led all Big Ten freshmen in several categories.
Bottom line, though, most college coaches don't care about predictions. Pitino isn't any different. There are no trophies for preseason awards or accolades. It might even be better for Minnesota's players to see the lack of respect and use it as bulletin board material to prove doubters wrong. We'll see if they can do that quickly during a tough stretch in November and early December.
Not many college hoops observers have gone out on a limb for the Gophers with preseason picks during Pitino's tenure, but it has happened before. They were picked as high as second by Athlon after reaching the NCAA tournament in 2017, but injuries and suspension turned high expectations into disappointment.
Below is a breakdown of where the Gophers have been picked by preseason magazines between 2013-19 and where they finished in the Big Ten standings.
Season
Athlon
Lindy's
SN/S&S
Actual
13-14
9th
9th
9th
7th
14-15
9th
4th
9th
10th
15-16
12th
11th
13th
13th
16-17
12th
13th
12th
4th
17-18
2nd
3rd
4th
11th
18-19
11th
9th
4th
7th
19-20
12th
11th
10th
???
Bold – finished higher than at least two of predictions
