Gophers Basketball: Must-Win Game Against the Badgers
Feb 26, 2015; East Lansing, MI, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard/forward Branden Dawson (22) blocks shot of Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Carlos Morris (11) during the 2nd half of a game at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports
The Good News: The Minnesota Gophers basketball team picked up a nice win over the Michigan State Spartans in East Lansing on Saturday afternoon.
The Bad News: Pretty much everything else that has happened to the Gophers since Big Ten play started.
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The Gophers were seen as a possible NCAA Tournament team at the beginning of this season. In fact, after their NIT win last spring many people downright expected them to make it. Things were still looking okay on that front during the first couple of months of the season. They picked up some wins, as well as losing fairly close games to good teams in Louisville and St. John’s.
The good times would not last though. The Gophers started the Big 10 season 0-5. Yes, some of the games were very close but a loss is a loss and an 0-5 hole is a huge one to climb out of when you are a fringe tournament team. It has been better since but their conference record is still 6-10. Teams four games under .500 in their conference do not make the NCAA Tournament.
That does not mean the season is now over for Richard Pitino and Co. Tomorrow night, the Gophers will give an unfriendly Barn welcome to the sixth-ranked Wisconsin Badgers. For the Gophers to have any chance of making the tournament (outside of winning the Big Ten Tournament) they absolutely must beat Wisconsin and go on a run.
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My feelings on Wisconsin are well established, so a Gophers win tomorrow night would be welcomed by me on multiple levels. The most important though would be keeping the Gophers’ tournament hopes alive. Winning the NIT last season was great but it is not the type of title you hope to get a chance to defend.
Wisconsin is very, very good but not unbeatable. In one of the strangest results of the year, they lost to lowly Rutgers earlier this season. The Gophers have also beat them pretty regularly the last few years at Williams Arena.That includes last season, when the Gophers beat the eventual Final Four-bound Badgers 81-68 on January 22nd.
So, anything is possible. The hope is that the Gophers can build on the momentum built in East Lansing last weekend and parlay that into a winning streak and a NCAA berth. If not, NIT here we come.