An undefeated month of February (7-0) wasn't enough to get the Gophers men's basketball team into either the AP or coaches' top 25 in the most recent polls.
But it was enough to dramatically shift where the Gophers stand when it comes to betting on their chances of winning the NCAA tournament. There are still 24 teams with better odds of winning the title, but at least Minnesota is now in the picture at 100- to -1 to win the whole thing, according to the latest odds via Bovada.
Heading into February, the Gophers were on a five-game losing streak. You couldn't even bet on them to win the NCAA tourney — they were "off the board" as such inconsequential long shots that bets were not accepted. The longest odds listed by Bovada are 500-to-1.
No other school that even has 300-to-1 odds now was "off the board" Feb. 1 — one more way of looking at how far the Gophers have climbed in just a month.
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.
