The folks at Big Ten Geeks, god love ‘em, have broken down the non-conference schedules of all the Big Ten teams, complete with odds of winning. Things look bleak against Louisville, but we have the same chance of beating the Cardinals as Northwestern does beating the truely depleted Stanford Cardinal.

You can read the entire Gopher preview here.

For those clamoring for a better non-conference schedule, you certainly have gotten what you asked for. The game will be at University of Phoenix stadium, but a time and date have not been announced, or whether it will be part of a tournament or stand alone game. But we do know that the Gophers will have their hands full, which might not be a bad thing. I’d rather have them play their first hard game before it counts in the Big Ten standings. And a fluke win, and I think its fair to say that such a win could be considered a fluke at this point, could definitely help get the program back on the map and back into tournament contention. Beating up on former D-II just doesn’t impress anyone.

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