The Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team (14-5) pulled off two needed wins this past week. It first started off by beating the then #8 ranked Indiana Hoosiers 77-74. A few days later they took care of a Penn State team that is sure struggling to get going this year. By getting these two wins the Gophers all of a sudden launched themselves back into a realistic possibility of making the NCAA tournament.
As everyone knows, in order to get into the Tourney (unless you win your conference championship), a team needs at least 20 wins. I feel that this is very attainable now considering the rest of the schedule for the Gophers. This team needs six more wins to get to the 20 mark, and I think they can realistically win 7 of the remaining regular season games. They have 2 against Nebraska, 2 against Northwestern, 1 against Iowa, and 2 against Wisconsin. I know that Wisconsin has been ranked for most of the year, but they just do not have the offense to be considered super dangerous to play against. At the same time, a win against Wisconsin would add a lot to the Gophers resume during selection Sunday. The Gophers with all of their injuries still have a lot of athleticism and could potentially pull some upsets like they did against the Hoosiers in Indiana. They need another signature win to start climbing the list of voters for the Tourney. The next few games against Northwestern and #25 Illinois will be big tests for Minnesota and could be a big step in the right direction for the remainder of the year.
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