If the Big Ten is going to get 11 or even 12 teams in the NCAA Tournament, a couple of teams near the bottom of the non-Northwestern and Nebraska contingent need to get some wins the rest of the way and in the Big Ten Tournament. One of those teams is Minnesota, who has looked quite promising at times. They avoided a bad loss nicely on Sunday, but now the real work begins.
Minnesota handled Northwestern 83-57 on the road on Sunday, getting 22 points and 12 rebounds from big man Daniel Oturu, who has had a fine season for them. Now they have to beat some teams ahead of them – basically, get more wins that have some value.
The Golden Gophers are 13-13 overall and 7-9 in Big Ten play. Figuring they will lose at least once in the Big Ten Tournament if we are to consider their at-large hopes, they would have at least 14 losses, which is a very high number historically. The lowest winning percentage for a team selected as an at-large is .533, which has happened twice with 16-14 teams. Simply put, the Golden Gophers have lost a lot of games, and that would be true even if there are no bad losses among them; they have lost at Utah and to DePaul at home, and while neither is earth-shattering, both teams are struggling.
Minnesota has two wins over Ohio State and wins over Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin to their credit. At this point, only Penn State is a lock for the NCAA Tournament, although Michigan is trending in that direction as they are playing very well of late. Their best non-conference win is either Oklahoma State or Clemson; the former looked good at the time, the latter was debatable then but now is not so valuable.
The opportunities are right in front of this team. They get Maryland at home on Wednesday night, then go to Wisconsin and Indiana before finishing up against Nebraska at home. The two road games are winnable, though neither will be easy, and getting Maryland at home is a big opportunity, which is all they can ask for. A .500 mark in the conference and at least one win in the Big Ten Tournament in some years might mean they’re in, but with at least 14 losses, they will have a tough case to make.
But there is an opportunity for this team to play its way into the NCAA Tournament from here. Taking care of business on Sunday was a must, though it only does so much. Now they have three opportunities right in a row. And if the conference will get 11 or 12 teams in, a team like the Golden Gophers has to win enough the rest of the way to have a good enough profile to make their case.
Side Dishes
Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Ohio State scored a big win over Maryland, knocking off the visiting Terrapins 79-72 to get back to .500 in Big Ten play, and Indiana did likewise in holding off visiting Penn State 68-60. After scuffling at the start of conference play, the Buckeyes have now won three of four and six of eight, so they appear to be playing well at a good time. Wisconsin kept it up for the home teams as they held off Rutgers 79-70 in Madison.
Creighton won their fifth straight and ninth in ten games as they blew out Butler 81-59 in Omaha to stay hot. The hottest Bluejay on the day was Marcus Zegarowski, who had 25 points thanks in part to making all seven of his shots from long range and was 9-12 overall. The Bluejays had 19 assists on 27 made field goals, shot 50 percent from the field and 15-26 from long range while slowing the Bulldogs at the other end. Seton Hall handled St. John’s 81-65 in the other Big East game on the day to stay a game ahead of Creighton.
The American Athletic Conference is now pretty much a three-team race after Cincinnati edged Wichita State 67-64, and in the process just did avoid a fifth straight overtime game, which would have set a new NCAA record. The Bearcats are once again tied with Houston at 11-4, with Tulsa right behind at 8-6 and Wichita State, Memphis and SMU all two games back in the loss column at 8-6.
The MAAC is a three-team race with a week to go. St. Peter’s pulled away from Rider 73-54 to stay on top, but they’re only ahead in the win column as Siena is right on their heels and edged Fairfield 62-59 on the road. Monmouth is a game back in the loss column but took care of Quinnipiac 89-78 on Sunday to keep pace.
The top of the Northeast Conference got a shakeup on Sunday, and it’s a whole new ballgame heading into the final week of the regular season. Saint Francis U was the only contender to win, as they edged LIU 74-71 to go to 12-4 in NEC play. Merrimack went on the road and lost 65-57 to Mount St. Mary’s, while Robert Morris went to Fairleigh Dickinson and blew a ten-point halftime lead in a 75-70 loss. Merrimack is 13-4, so they’re even with Saint Francis U in the loss column, while Robert Morris is 12-5. Merrimack closes with Central Connecticut at home, while Saint Francis U hosts Mount St. Mary’s before going to Robert Morris for the game that will likely decide who has the top seed in the NEC Tournament.
Other results of note: East Carolina got 29 points and 13 rebounds from Jayden Gardner to edge Temple 67-63; Boston University used a big second half to rally and edge American 64-60 to take sole possession of second place in the Patriot League, while Colgate clinched the top seed in the league tournament and a share of the regular season title by blowing out Holy Cross 90-60; Northern Iowa continued to win at home and took sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley once again by dominating the second half for a 64-52 win over Southern Illinois; Utah completed a tough weekend trip for USC by pulling away from the Trojans 79-65; and Stanford got back to .500 in Pac-12 play by handling Washington State 75-57 in Pullman.
The saga between Kevin Ollie and UConn is back in the news as current UConn head coach Dan Hurley was served with a subpoena that will require him to testify during an upcoming arbitration hearing between Ollie and UConn. Ollie was owed more than $10 million on his contract when he was fired for cause in 2018, and while Hurley said nothing about it following UConn’s win over South Florida on Sunday, the school issued a statement making it clear they are none too pleased with it.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a light night of action with just over a dozen games on the slate, but a few of them are big ones.
- A big one early on has first place in the ACC on the line as Florida State hosts Louisville (7 p.m.)
- A pair of Big 12 games are on tap as Texas hosts West Virginia (7 p.m.) and Oklahoma State visits Kansas (9 p.m.)
- One Big South game comes up on the evening, which is the resumption of Hampton and Gardner Webb that was suspended over a month ago due to a mechanical issue with a shot clock. Gardner Webb leads 39-31 at halftime as play resumes (7 p.m.)
- A full slate of MEAC action is on tap, with Norfolk State at Bethune-Cookman, Delaware State at Morgan State, Maryland-Eastern Shore at North Carolina A&T and Howard at NC Central all tipping at 7:30, while Florida A&M hosts South Carolina State with an 8 p.m. tip.
- There’s also a Big Ten game in the mix as Illinois hosts Nebraska (8 p.m.)
- Four games in the SWAC are on the docket, with Alcorn State visiting Alabama State, Southern visiting Alabama A&M, conference leader Prairie View A&M going to Mississippi Valley State and Texas Southern traveling to Arkansas-Pine Bluff, all tipping at 8:30 p.m.
