Bubble Watch: Have Minnesota Gophers Done Enough to Make the NCAA Tournament?

The Minnesota Gophers were ranked in the top 10 at one point in the season, but a four-game losing streak killed that ranking pretty fast. Although Minnesota has had a good season, has it done enough to make the NCAA tournament?

Let me give you the short version first: yes.

The Gophers only lost to Duke in their non-conference schedule and although they did not have a huge win before conference play–you could count the victory against Memphis as a quality win–Minnesota has had plenty of big wins in the Big Ten.

Michigan State, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Those were four quality wins by Minnesota this year and they should be enough to earn this team an at-large bid. Heck, you can even throw in a victory against Iowa this year. The Big Ten Conference is by far the best in all of college basketball this season and it currently has three top 10 teams to prove it.

Minnesota is currently 20-10 on the year with a Big Ten record of 8-9. This leaves the Gophers tied for sixth place in the conference, but the Big Ten has been good enough to get seven teams into the dance this year.

However, this team cannot afford to drop two straight games against weak conference opponents. Minnesota just got done losing to Nebraska and it will close out the regular season against Purdue on the road. The Gophers also need to win their first game of the conference tournament. That should be all they have to do, but they should currently be apart of the tournament field right now.

With a top 25 ranking in both the BPI and RPI, the Minnesota Gophers are on the verge of making the biggest dance of the year.