Niko Medved defends Gophers' nonconference slate: 'We tried the best we could'

Minnesota tried everything it could to beef up its nonconference schedule this season.

Niko Medved talking to the media before Gophers practice | Picture via: Gophers Athletics (YouTube)

The Gophers officially released their 2025 nonconference schedule last week, and it lacks serious substance for the fifth straight season. It's hard to ask a first-year head coach to load up their schedule, and Niko Medved is well aware.

Minnesota does have a notable road game at Missouri, and neutral site games against San Francisco, Stanford and either St. Louis or Santa Clara. But the best opponent they welcome to the Barn before conference play is Campbell.

"It's hard because there's only so much we can do with the nonconference schedule when we got here. We'd prefer to have some more opportunities, but our hands we're a little bit tied. We tried the best we could at the end," Medved said. "Having said that, we still have some challenges on our schedule here."

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Minnesota does have a chance to have more Quad 1 opportunities in nonconference play than last season. Missouri is a projected tournament team, and then San Francisco, Stanford, St. Louis or Santa Clara would just have to be in the top 50 of the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings in order for a win to be considered Quad 1 for the Gophers. They did not have a single Quad 1 game in nonconference play last season.

"We really tried to get a game at Sanford Pentagon. We really tried hard to get a Power Four opponent. If you guys can help, we called everybody in the country," Medved pleaded. "So, don't think it wasn't for effort. Heck, we tried to get Florida here."

It's interesting to note, Medved did mention the neutral site game at the Sanford Pentagon as a relationship that he hopes Minnesota can continue to build in the future. With neutral-site games increasingly common, Sioux Falls seems like a no-brainer for Minnesota.

A game against the defending national champs at the Barn would've quickly shut up any 'cupcake schedule' haters, and it would've been a big message to Gophers' fans. It's hard to get major conference teams to want to play a road game against an unknown team like the Gophers. It's all risk and no reward. Ultimately, it's unfair to expect a loaded year one schedule, so we'll likely have to wait for Medved and the Gophers to beef up their nonconference slate.