College basketball has gone past the halfway point of the conference season. Now every game takes on greater importance for the teams that are trying to make the NCAA Tournament. FanHouse will take a look at the teams that find somewhere between the NCAA or NIT.Team: Minnesota Golden Gophers
Record: 20-8 (8-8 Big Ten)
Good Wins: Louisville (neutral), Illinois (home), Wisconsin (road), Ohio State (home)
Bad Losses: There's nothing awful here. The two losses to below 60 RPI teams were to Penn State and Northwestern, and both were on the road.
Comments: If it wasn't for that Louisville game, their non-conference schedule would have been laughable. Still, they won every one of those games and haven't -- as stated above -- suffered any bad losses.
The problem, though, is that they are playing their way onto the bubble with a terrible stretch in conference play. Since a convincing January 29 victory over Illinois, the Gophers are 2-5. Their remaining two conference games are at home, but easily losable with the way they've been playing recently. Should Wisconsin and Michigan both come in and take down Tubby Smith's troops in The Barn, well, Minnesota's in trouble of missing the tourney after an 18-3 start.
Other Views: They sit 36 in the RPI, 40th in the Basketball State, and 34th in Sagarin Ratings.
Verdict: As things currently stand, they are in, but they better watch their step. Let's say they go 2-2 from here on out -- including the conference tournament. That's a good resume, but not an ironclad one. Let's say Butler, Gonzaga, and a few other tournament locks fall in conference tourneys, while someone like Northwestern comes from out of nowhere to take the Big Ten tourney. Those at-large bids would start dwindling and the Gophers would really start sweating.
Simply put, "The U" needs to take care of business here with back-to-back home conference wins to close out the regular season. They've got until March 4 -- when the Badgers visit -- to think about it.
