Over the last 24 hours or so, like many of you, I have been closely following the speculation, prognostication, and spin surrounding “Super Tuesday.” Instead of adding to the cacophony of pundits and talking heads, as much as I am tempted (Barack won), I think I’ll stick to basketball.

But imagine for a second, if you will, what basketball would look like if was run like “Super Tuesday.”

• Each game would be played by its own rules.
• We wouldn’t necessarily know the final score until a day or more after the game ended. (Go New Mexico! You are slower than American Samoa.)
• The final score wouldn’t matter as much as where the points were scored. One team could win by 20, but if all their points were scored in paint while the losing team made free throws, mid range jumpers, and three pointers, a tie or even a win by the “loser” could be the result.

So why all this talk about politics when there is a basketball game tonight? Because not much has changed since the Gophers beat Northwestern a few weeks ago to open the Big Ten season. Northwestern still hasn’t beaten anyone in the Big Ten, and Minnesota hasn’t lost or won in surprising.

Even though the Gophers are struggling, coming of an embarrassing home loss to the dread team from the other side of the Saint Croix River, Minnesota should be able to beat the Wildcats. In past years Minnesota has struggled in Evanston, and I even predicted a loss for the Gophers at Northwestern in my ill-fated attempt of a Big Ten preview, but not even Minnesota’s road struggles and deflated confidence can overcome the sheer ineptitude of Northwestern. They would struggle in the MAC.

The Gophers will need to watch out for Northwestern’s trifecta of not completely untalented players. Kevin Coble took awhile to get back into game shape, but back he is. He leads Northwestern in both scoring and rebounding and put up 34 points against Michigan in early January. Yes, Northwestern lost by 10. Craig Moore continues to shoot lots of threes, and occasionally even makes them. Against MSU in late January, more made 7 three pointers and finished with 28 points. Northwesten lost by 16. Michael Thompson, like most freshman in the conference, has hit the wall. But even when he was playing well, Northwestern lost. For Northwestern to have a chance, their “big 3″ will all need to have big games, and it still might not matter. (Click here for a more thorough discussion of worst case scenarios).

For the Gophers, another midweek game, another inferior opponents, more promised changes. Following the debacle last Sunday, Tubby Smith sounded like he had enough, but no one quite knows what this mean. The Gophers are simply too inconsistent for any coach to plan who will play how many minutes. He wanted to play the starters extended minutes against Wisconsin, but they would have been outclassed by a good high school team.

Tonight, given Northwestern’s lack of height, skill, rebounding, etc. I would love to see Tubby go small and try to run Northwestern out of the gym. Kevin Coble is NU’s tallest player at 6′8″ but plays on the perimeter. Neither of the Gopher centers would be able to guard him out there, and if Coble guarded Damian Johnson or Dan Coleman, both of whom I would like to see in the post, the Gophers should still be able to score inside relatively easily. Playing Spencer Tollackson and Jonathan Williams for limited minutes would also allow the Gophers to speed the game up, and not let Northwestern set up their zone defense and not control the pace of the game. Besides, if going small didn’t work, Minnesota should still be able to engineer a comeback or extend a lead against a much inferior opponent.

Minnesota should win, but the other day they looked like they were about ready to give up. Prediction: Minnesota 75- Northwestern 64.

And I must confess, tonight will be the first time that I am afflicted with BTN syndrome and I will not be able to watch the game. I’ll still review the game, but expect more criticism of bad journalism and less hard hitting insight. But the way I see it, if the Gophers win I won’t miss much, and if they lose, I don’t want to see.

And really, they need to rebound. The Gophers have improved in all facets of the game, and these improvements have generally been consistent, but when it comes to rebounding, last season isn’t that long ago. Old habits die hard, and habits that are the result of physical prowess (or lack there of) never do die,  though they do disappear occasionally, particularly against teams facing similar issues.

Luckily, Northwestern is one of those teams. No one uses the Princeton offense, other than Princeton, due to anything other necessity. Northwestern doesn’t have the athletes or the talent to successfully compete in the Big Ten, or any major conference. Bill Carmody, Northwestern’s coach, is the most successful in school history. Its both hard to believe that any program’s most successful coach could only have one season with a record above .500. Its as equally hard to believe that anyone could coach Northwestern to 8-8 conference record like Carmody did in 2003-2004. But the winds of changing have begun to blow in the windy city (windy because of the hot air spewn by Chicagoans claiming their city was better than New York, and not because of any meteorlogical phenomenon) and unless Carmody can miraculously turn around his team, he may be on the way out. Don’t expect any miracles for the Wildcats.

Northwestern comes into Wednesday night’s game coming off a bad home loss to Penn State and a surprisingly respectable road loss at Ohio State. The non-conference season was full of bad losses to worse teams.

Kevin Coble, one of Northwestern’s best and most well known players has rejoined the team after taking the first semester off to be with his mother as she has undergone cancer treatment. His return has no doubt provided a spark to the Wildcats, at least psychologically, but don’t expect Coble to be at his best tomorrow night. He will probably need a few weeks to return to form. Practicing against high school kids can’t simulate the speed and skill of even a “down” Big Ten.

Craig Moore and Michael Thompson have been the Northwestern’s best players this season, each averaging 13.5 ppg. Jason Okrzesik has also had a decent season averaging 11.5 ppg, but then after Coble, the talent level goes off a cliff.

The Gophers come into their home opener after a surprisingly close at Michigan State, doing all they needed to do to win but rebound. Despite the same number of shot attempts, the Spartans out rebounded the Gophers by 20. In a trend that began when they were out-rebounded at Florida State in a loss and barely out-rebounded UNLV in a worse loss, the Gophers go the way of their rebounding. To be successful, the Gophers need to dramatically out rebound their opponents.

The Gopher players, coaches, facilities, and school colors are all better than Northwestern’s but if the Gophers can’t get rebounds, it doesn’t matter.  However, there are no indications that rebounding will be a problem tomorrow night, and I predict a 71-57 win.

AND WEAR GOLD TOMORROW. IT IS GOLD OUT AFTERALL.

So far this year Northwestern is known for its star player leaving taking a leave of absence to be with his cancer-stricken mother and losing to Brown. It is going to be another long year in Evanston. The loss to Brown (don’t worry Northwestern, you’ll always have academics) wasn’t a complete surprise, Kevin Coble’s decision to be with his mother while she underwent chemotherapy was, but a pleasant one. It is a nice to see a kid keep things in perspective, and realize that family is more important than a few basketball games. I just hope opposing fans realize this too.

What we know:

Northwestern is terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad, and they don’t really have an excuse. Iowa has a new coach and lost their best player, Michigan lost their starting line up, has a new coach, and played a ridiculous non-conference schedule. Northwestern is just…Northwestern. In addition to their aforementioned loss to Brown, they’ve won games that most other teams would consider losses. A two point victory against at Western Michigan and a 10 point win at home over Savannah State aren’t much to brag about. But, NU has won four in a row, so maybe things are at least looking horizontally in Evansville (maybe someday things will be looking up).

Who to watch:

• If and when Kevin Coble returns to the team (he hopes to be back for the Big Ten season) he is a force to be reckoned with. He led the Wildcats in scoring and rebounding last year, and is already considered to be the best player in Northwestern history. This is a bit like being considered the best mountain climber in the Netherlands, but its something.
• Michael Thompson is just a freshman, but he sure isn’t acting like it. He averages 13 points, 5 assists, and only two turnovers per game.

How they’ll do:

Wins: Michigan, Minnesota (Whelsh-Ryan is cursed), Iowa

Losses: Penn State, at Ohio State, at Minnesota, at Wisconsin, Michigan State, at Illinois, at Indiana, at Michigan State, Ohio State, Purdue, at Iowa, Indiana, at Michigan, at Purdue, Wisconsin

Record: 3-15 (9-20 assuming the split against Chicago State and Texas-Pan American)

What we don’t know:

What impact will Coble have after sitting out for for the first couple months of the season?