February 14, 2014

Happy Valentine's Day all!
The Gopher's did about as well as they could have been expected to at the Kohl Center last night. They continued to fight even after falling down by as much as 15 late in the second half. The pulled within five points in the last minute, but the Badgers made enough free throws down the stretch (11-14 in the last 2 min) to keep the game out of reach. In fact, the Badgers did an amazing job getting to the line all night, scoring as many points from free throws (30 of 36) as 2-point jumpers (15 of 28).
With six games to go before the Big10 tourney, the Gophers still desparately need three wins, starting at Northwestern on Sunday, then Illinois at home next Wednesday. I won't go quite so far to say that they MUST win both of these games, but a loss in either would mean they'd need to beat either Ohio State or Michigan on the road, or both. Although Minnesota has temporarily fallen to the first team out, wins in the next two games will push them safely back into the field before their 3-game gauntlet (@Ohio St, Iowa, @Michigan).


1's: Syracuse, Arizona, Wichita State, Florida
2's: Villanova, Saint Louis, Kansas, San Diego State
3's: Cincinnati, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Creighton
4's: Duke, Kentucky, Gonzaga, Iowa State
5's: UCLA, Virginia, Louisville, Michigan
6's: Massachusetts, Texas, VCU, Ohio State
7's: Pittsburgh, George Washington, Connecticut, New Mexico
8's: Memphis, SMU, Iowa, Colorado
9's: Arizona State, Oklahoma, Kansas State, North Carolina
10's: Xavier, Toledo, Missouri, Indiana State
11's: Saint Mary's, Oklahoma State, Saint Joseph's, North Dakota State
12's: Richmond, Oregon, California, Stanford, Dayton, Southern Mississippi
13's: Belmont, Stephen F Austin, Harvard, New Mexico State
14's: Green Bay, Delaware, Manhattan, Mercer
15's: UC Santa Barbara, Georgia State, North Carolina Central, Boston University
16's: Bryant, Vermont, Weber State, Elon, Radford, Southern

FFO: Minnesota, North Carolina State, Mississippi, Saint John's
NFO: Providence, Georgetown, Tennessee, BYU