Gophers' Big Ten Tournament Seeding Scenarios Become Clear After Indiana Loss

After Wednesday's blowout loss at Indiana, the Gophers have a 14-16 overall record with a 7-12 mark in Big Ten play. They're one of three teams battling for the 11th, 12th and 13th seeds in next week's Big Ten Tournament. Let's break down the scenarios.

Minnesota is currently in a three-way tie for 11th place in the Big Ten standings alongside Washington and USC. All three teams have one regular-season game remaining, and the Gophers do not hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against either team, so their outlook is fairly clear.

11 seed scenario

If the Gophers beat Northwestern in their regular-season home finale against Northwestern on Saturday night, USC loses at home against UCLA and Washington loses at Oregon, they will be locked into the 11 seed before the last day of the regular season on Sunday.

12 seed scenario

If the Gophers beat Northwestern and either USC or Washington loses their regular-season finale, they will be locked into the 12 seed. It doesn't matter which team loses; Minnesota will have an 8-12 conference record, which puts them one game up on either team if they lose.

13 seed scenario

If Minnesota loses to Northwestern on Saturday night, it will be locked into the 13 seed. No matter if Washington and USC both lose, one team wins or both teams win, it will be the 13 seed for Minnesota with a loss against the Wildcats.

Big Ten tournament seeding if every favorite wins. | Picture via: bball.notnothing.net

The most likely scenario for the Gophers is the 12 seed. They will be favored to beat Northwestern at home, UCLA will be favored to beat USC and Washington will be favored to beat Oregon. If those results happen, it will be a 12-13 matchup between Minnesota and USC.

A rematch with USC would be a favorable matchup for the Gophers, as the Trojans' leading scorer, Chad Baker-Mazara, was dismissed from the team. But this route would include a challenging third-round matchup against Purdue and then an even tougher challenge against Illinois in the quarterfinals.

If Minnesota wants the easiest path to make a run next week in Chicago, the 11 seed is probably the best situation. A second-round matchup with Rutgers before a third-round game against Wisconsin and then Michigan State in the quarterfinals is a route fans could talk themselves into.

The Gophers' NCAA at-large chances are zero, but they still have plenty to play for. A win in next week's Big Ten Tournament will keep them firmly in the discussion for a birth in the College Basketball Crown.