Minnesota’s 75-73 upset win over No. 2 seed Purdue has the Gophers in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and possibly on the rise in the NCAA Tournament.
Entering this week’s conference tournament, Minnesota was projected as a 10 seed by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm. After beating Penn State on Thursday and knocking off Purdue Friday, the Gophers are moving up.
Lunardi now has the Gophers seeded 9th and Palm has also boosted their projected seed to No. 8.
If Minnesota loses to Michigan in their Big Ten semifinal game Saturday (2:30 p.m. on CBS), it’s looking more and more likely that they’ll enter the NCAA Tournament seeded somewhere between 8-10.
If they beat Michigan it’ll be hard for the bracketologists to keep them anywhere below an 8 seed.
Lunardi’s four 8 seeds currently are Iowa, Washington, Central Florida and Syracuse, and the Gophers beat Iowa and Washington during the regular season.
They might be able to push even higher if they upset Michigan and go on to beat Michigan State or Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament championship game on Sunday.
One thing is certain: getting a 8 or 9 seed means the Gophers would likely face one fo the four No. 1 seeds if they advance out of the first round.
Selection Sunday will tell all, but the Gophers are a rock-solid lock for the tournament and their stock is on the rise.
