In this week's national insider, I take a look at the resurgence of Texas ball. Plus, notes from around college hoops, and this week's Big Ten power poll, in which the Gophers drop substantially. Once again, there is movement at the top,
Tonight's game against Indiana tips at 7:30 CT and will be broadcast on BTN and 1500-a.m.
Three straight losses to three less-than-dominant teams in the conference warrants some tweaking -- Richard Pitino gets that.
But will the coach's power forward flip flop be enough to spin the Gophers in a positive direction?
Sometimes a change -- any notable change -- can make a difference simply from a psychological perspective. Conventional wisdom says the status quo can't change unless some element changes in a way that affects the whole. Perhaps if a team feels fundamentally different, it will play different.
But beyond affecting the Gophers' psyche, how much will Joey King starting in Oto Osenieks' place affect Minnesota?
King's minutes figure to tick up somewhat -- in the five games before the Purdue game (in which King played 47 minutes and Osenieks, just eight), King has just 16.4 minutes per game to Osenieks' 23. Whether King can be justifiably more productive in greater minutes remains to be seen as the undersized four-man has been up and down all season.