After taking down Oregon and Rutgers last week, the Gophers have a winning streak for the first time since early January. Their KenPom rating has climbed above its preseason number for the first time since November. Will their late season sucess be enough to land in a postseason tournament? Let’s break it down.
The Gophers have jumped to No. 72 in KenPom after a 2-0 week with wins over Oregon and Rutgers. 🤯Minnesota is higher than its preseason rating for the first time since losing to Missouri. Incredibly impressive given the injuries that Niko Medved and his staff have dealt with. pic.twitter.com/fgJuYWrfUN
— Tony Liebert (@TonyLiebert) February 23, 2026
Big Ten tournament outlook
Minnesota currently has a 13-14 overall record and a 6-10 mark in Big Ten play. Its chances of an NCAA at-large invitation are zero. The only path to the big dance then becomes an automatic bid, which is given to the winner of the Big Ten tournament. All 18 teams will make this year’s field for the first time, after the bottom three were left out last season.
If the season ended today, the Gophers would be the 12 seed. They would face Washington in the second round on Wednesday afternoon, and the winner would face Purdue in the third round on Thursday.
“One of our first goals is we want to avoid Tuesday in the Big Ten tournament… For where we’re at, that’s a good first goal. Obviously, we want to win as many games as we can. We knew that this one was massive in that regard. If we had lost today, Rutgers would’ve actually moved ahead of us in the standings. Now you take a two-game lead on them with a couple to go and win the head-to-head, so that was massive,” Medved said after Saturday’s win…