Gophers men's NCAA tournament outlook
Can't afford bad loss at this stage
Marcus Fuller's projection: No. 6 seed
The Gophers were fortunate during their five-game losing streak to only suffer one bad loss Jan. 14 at Penn State. Their body of work remained solid enough to keep them off the bubble. Now that Minnesota is on a seven-game winning streak, it's a near-lock for the Big Dance, but a loss Thursday against Nebraska could really hurt seeding. The Cornhuskers are ranked No. 87 in Rating Percentage Index and aren't even considered an NIT team. Beating them won't be an RPI boost. But I think another win would keep the Gophers in contention for a sixth seed or higher.
Key numbers
Record: 22-7, 10-6 Big Ten.
Ken Pomeroy (kenpom.com) rating: 30th in nation.
RPI: 17.
Strength of schedule: 16.
Quality wins: at Purdue, at Maryland, at Northwestern, Michigan, Arkansas.
Bad losses: at Penn State.
Top-50 RPI wins: 7-5.
Top-100 RPI wins: 13-7.
