At the beginning of the season, when there were a variety of unknowns about the squad and we had pretty low expectations for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s basketball team. Even the most optimistic of fans were only predicting 9 conference wins and being a higher tier NIT squad. But then something strange happened...
The Gophers’ overhauled roster out-performed our wildest expectations in the non-conference schedule. This included victories over UT-Arlington, St. John’s, Arkansas, and Vanderbilt. They lost to a talented Florida State team in Tallahassee. They entered the conference slate at 12-1 with no bad losses and, at the time, three wins that could be considered “quality wins” by KenPom and RPI.