The Gophers football team stumbled to the finish line last season, ending the regular season with a 5-7 record after being in Big Ten West contention for much of the year.
What are the odds? A troubling Gophers football number (and more)
How many games will P.J. Fleck’s Gophers win next year? What are the chances the Timberwolves will win the NBA title or the Twins will win the AL Central again? Let’s take a look.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 16, 2024 at 6:47PM
But get a load of this: If Minnesota merely replicates that 5-7 record in 2024, it would be enough to help a Gophers fan cash an optimistic bet.
An online site has set the Gophers’ over-under win total for next season at 4.5. If you were to wager where such a thing is legal, and you were to bet the “over,” Minnesota would only need to nab five victories for you to win.
That over-under total is tied for the lowest in the Big Ten with Purdue, and it reflects the reality of how the Gophers finished the year as well as a daunting schedule in 2024 -- all of which I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
It’s only February, of course. And perhaps the Gophers will truly overperform compared to external expectations. But let’s just say that nobody but a gambler would be happy with another 5-7 season.
Here are some more numbers of interest:
*The Gophers men’s basketball team had a chance at an upset after taking an eight-point lead into halftime against Purdue. Minnesota ultimately fell 84-76, but it did keep one impressive streak alive:
Per Gopher Hole, the Gophers are 21-3 against the spread this season -- the best in college basketball in at least one area.
*If you’re tired of the Vikings being stuck in the mediocre middle, I have some bad news for you. The odds suggest they will be right back in that spot in 2024.
Future odds have the Vikings at 40 to 1 to win next year’s Super Bowl. There are 15 teams with shorter odds and 15 with longer odds. One other is 40 to 1 -- the NFC North rival Bears.
Those numbers could shift a decent amount after free agency and the draft, but it’s hard to imagine Minnesota being a true Super Bowl contender in 2024 -- probably the main argument for starting over at quarterback this offseason.
*No respect: The Wolves have the best record in the Western Conference (39-16) at the All-Star break, but they are just a 25 to 1 favorite to win an NBA title. Two other teams battling for the top seed in the West (the Clippers and Nuggets) are both closer to 5 to 1.
*FanGraphs gives the Twins a better than 50% chance to win the AL Central again, with a 63.5% chance of making the playoffs either as a division winner or wild card.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
