Gophers to Begin Big Ten Tournament vs. Rutgers: Can MN Make a Run?

The 2026 Big Ten men's basketball tournament bracket has been finalized, and the Gophers (15-16, 8-12 in Big Ten play) are locked into the No. 11 seed and a matchup with No. 14 Rutgers (13-18, 6-14) on Wednesday night in Chicago.

Big Ten, Gophers basketball — The 2026 Big Ten men's basketball tournament bracket. | Big Ten

Minnesota appears to have landed in a relatively favorable part of the bracket, all things considered. The opening matchup against Rutgers is very winnable. The Gophers beat the Scarlet Knights 80-61 at Williams Arena a couple of weeks ago, and Rutgers has significantly worse advanced metrics than 15th-seeded Northwestern and 16th-seeded Oregon.

If Niko Medved's team can win that first game, it would take on No. 6 UCLA (21-10, 13-7) on Thursday night. The Gophers beat the Bruins 78-73 in Minneapolis a little over a week ago. UCLA would be favored in that game and would have a rest advantage, but the Gophers have already shown they're capable of beating Mick Cronin's bunch.

If Minnesota were to reach the quarterfinals on Friday, it would face the No. 3 seed Michigan State. That would obviously be a major challenge, but the Gophers did beat MSU this season.

At its best, this Minnesota team can hang with anybody in the Big Ten. The biggest issue with the idea of the Gophers making a deep run is their complete lack of depth. Due to several injuries, Medved basically doesn't make substitutions. His five starters each played at least 36 minutes in Saturday's regular season finale against Northwestern, with sixth man Kai Shinholster mixing in for 8 minutes. Cade Tyson and Grayson Grove played all 40 minutes.

Given their total lack of depth, it's impressive that the Gophers have managed to go 4-3 since losing Jaylen Crocker-Johnson for the season. Their starting unit of Langston Reynolds, Isaac Asuma, Bobby Durkin, Tyson, and Grove is playing good basketball. But college teams don't play on back-to-back days during the regular season, outside of November tournament situations. For Minnesota to even reach the semifinals in Chicago, their six-man group would have to win three games in three days. To complete a stunning run through the tournament, they'd have to win five games in five days. That's a lot to ask from a stamina standpoint.

A realistic goal for the Gophers is to beat Rutgers and upset UCLA to reach the quarterfinals. That would secure them a .500 finish in year one under Medved. And who knows what could happen if Minnesota can get to Friday?

It starts with Rutgers on Wednesday. This is the postseason, where the only thing that matters for teams with no at-large NCAA Tournament hopes is to take it one game at a time — to survive and advance.