FanHouse Minnesota Basketball

In 2008, the Big Ten sent only four teams to the NCAA tournament. None reached the Elite Eight The Big Ten toiled down with mid-majors in conference RPI and were nationally maligned as the "Average 11." This past season, however, the league enjoyed a resurgence. It ranked only behind the ACC in conference RPI. Seven schools earned a berth into the NCAA tournament, and Penn State won the NIT. Michigan State toppled the defending national champions and two number one seeds en route to a national runner-up finish.

Heading into Saturday, Michigan's NCAA Tournament resume looked pretty decent, save for two key spots: the Wolverines were under .500 in the Big Ten, and had no big road victories.

Consider both problems taken care of. Claiming what was arguably its most clutch win in more than a decade, Michigan stormed back from a 12-point deficit at Minnesota and stunned the Gophers 67-64. The two teams basically swap spots in the Big Dance picture -- Michigan now looks like a pretty safe bet to get in, while Minnesota finds itself right on the border.

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First of all, allow us a moment to give Penn State some credit. They had never won 10 Big Ten games in one season until they garnered their tenth of 2009 Thursday night. They apparently have a flair for the dramatic, as they trailed by six with under two minutes left. A Stanley Pringle three, a huge offensive board -- followed by two free throws -- from David Jackson, some good defense, and a clutch runner from Talor Battle propelled them to an unbelievable victory over a very solid Illinois team for the second time this season.

College basketball has gone past the halfway point of the conference season. Now every game takes on greater importance for the teams that are trying to make the NCAA Tournament. FanHouse will take a look at the teams that find somewhere between the NCAA or NIT.

Team: Minnesota Golden Gophers

Record: 20-8 (8-8 Big Ten)

Good Wins: Louisville (neutral), Illinois (home), Wisconsin (road), Ohio State (home)

Bad Losses: There's nothing awful here. The two losses to below 60 RPI teams were to Penn State and Northwestern, and both were on the road.

Penn State defeated Minnesota Saturday, 68-63, as Talor Battle returned to the "leading scorer" column with 21 points to lead the Nittany Lions. The bubble watch implications, however, were much more important than the actual game results.

It once looked like a foregone conclusion that Minnesota was on their way to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005. Now, Tubby Smith's Golden Gophers have lost three of their last four games. In fact, they have gone 3-5 since running their record to 16-1 -- and two of those three wins were against conference doormat Indiana.

A few weeks ago I did a halfway point roundup for the Big Ten, in which I buried Wisconsin and hailed Penn State to no end. Boy, do I look like an idiot now. Since then, Penn State crumbled, while Wisconsin has done a 180.

The Nittany Lions were embarrassed by Michigan, lost at home to Wisconsin, and handily lost at Purdue. They now sit just 6-6 in conference play, and their RPI has plunged into the 80s. With road trips to Illinois and Ohio State -- not to mention hosting Illinois and Minnesota -- it would appear they are fading back into obscurity.

With just over a month in the books and most teams having played about half their conference schedule, let's check out the big boys of the Midwest. We're seeing a slight upheaval when it comes to traditional powers, as Indiana and Wisconsin sit in the bottom third of the standings, Northwestern is respectable, and Penn State is in the mix toward the top.

At this point, the conference is very balanced, and much stronger than it has been in recent years. They have a shot at seven bids for the Big Dance, but six is the more likely number.

Heading into Thursday's game, Illinois was one of the best offensive teams in the Big Ten. The Illini averaged 70 points a game, and shot a conference-best 47.9 percent from the field. The best part about them, though, was that they had such a balanced attack. Four players averaged between 10.9 and 12.5 points per game. The next four all averaged between 5.5 and 5.9 points a game. Simply put, they can shoot the ball, and they can beat you with any number of weapons.

Thursday night, however, belonged to the defense of the Minnesota Golden Gophers in their 59-36 win.

Apparently, Tubby Smith's departure from Minnesota can't come soon enough in the eyes of the media. When Lute Olson retired at Arizona, Tubby was tied to the job through pure conjecture, and now it's happening again. Earlier this week, Mark Gottfried "resigned" from his post at the University of Alabama. Today, everyone's favorite talking heads -- Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon -- got the ball rolling.

I guess the fact that Tubby Smith's two previous head coaching jobs came in the same conference as Alabama make it a quasi-logical destination. Other than that, though, there is little substance here.

Yes, I was one of the doubters about Minnesota. I knew they were better than last year's team, and definitely would be a force next year. This year, however, I was not prepared to buy into Tubby Smith's squad. Sure they had a 15-1 record, but their non-con SOS was way below 250th. Their best win had been over an exhausted Louisville team at a neutral site.

They had only played two road games to date. A one-point win over Colorado State and a three-point escape over Iowa. They looked like a lot of young, decent teams that would end up on the NCAA Tournament bubble come March.

Then came Thursday night.