Rising Gophers: What are Minnesota's chances of making noise in March?

The Gophers now have their highest NET ranking of the season.

Feb 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Ben Johnson (center) as the team bench reacts to a 3-point basket during the second half against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images / Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images

In early December, Minnesota's ranking in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) got all the way down to 163. After Tuesday night's win over UCLA and their sixth win in their last night games, they've climbed to a season-high No. 89. What does it all mean?

The NET has been the NCAA's top evaluation metric since 2018, and it's the first thing they look at to determine an at-large team's resume for the NCAA Tournament. Minnesota's ranking at No. 163 earlier this season was among the worst in power conference basketball, but at No. 89 they're now five spots ahead of the Big Ten's last-place team Washington (94) and only eight spots behind Rutgers (81).

NCAA Tournament at-large chances

If the Gophers win their final five regular season games, they would be 19-12 heading into the Big Ten tournament with an 11-9 conference record and that would be an 11-3 run to finish the regular season. Would that be enough to hear their name called on Selection Sunday? Maybe, but they still might need to make some noise in the Big Ten tournament to guarantee a spot on the bubble.

With a pair of Quad 3 losses to Washington at home and Wichita State on a neutral floor, Minnesota has two glaring blemishes on its resume. If you add their Quad 2 losses to North Texas at home and Wake Forest on a neutral floor, it quickly evens out their four Quad 1 wins.

College Basketball Crown/NIT chances

In a much more realistic discussion, Minnesota's chances of playing in an alternate postseason tournament like the College Basketball Crown or NIT rose dramatically after Tuesday's win over UCLA. The NET rankings determine the automatic qualifiers from the Big Ten and Minnesota is continuing to catch up to teams like Rutgers, Penn State and Northwestern.

If the Gophers take care of business against the Nittany Lions and Wildcats at home, there's a good chance their NET ranking will jump into the top 80 before another chance at a Quad 1 win against Nebraska on the road on March 1.

It's important to not get too ahead of yourselves with this Gophers team, but their sweep in Los Angeles against Southern Cal and UCLA has opened a box of opportunities. With a favorable schedule to finish the regular season, they now have a possibility of a Cinderella story.

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