Minnesota hosts Penn State at noon on Sunday. Watch on Big Ten Network and listen live on 1500-a.m.

After a loss to Wisconsin on Thursday, today's game no longer directly has much if any bearing on the Gophers' postseason stance, but will significantly affect Minnesota's seeding in the Big Ten tournament.

A win over the Nittany Lions gives Minnesota the tenth seed, and thus a single bye. In that scenario, the Gophers would play 7-seed Indiana on Thursday (the Hoosiers guaranteed their spot yesterday when Illinois lost to Purdue) for the right to face 2-seed Maryland.

A loss today would sink the Gophers to the 11th seed at best (Northwestern is 1-0 vs. Minnesota this year and therefore has the tiebreaker in the event of matching conference records) and a 12th seed at worst. If the Gophers landed at 11th, they would have to play 14-seed Rutgers on Wednesday, in the first round. The winner would move on to play No. 6 Ohio State (whose game vs. Wisconsin today has no bearing on its seeding). But they could fall to 12th if a loss corresponds with Nebraska upsetting No. 10 Maryland today since that would put Nebraska, Minnesota and Northwestern in a 6-12 tie, and Minnesota is 1-12 vs. that group.

In the first scenario, Minnesota would have to win four games to claim the title -- the only remaining opportunity for Minnesota to slide into the NCAA tournament. Either of the latter situations would mean the Gophers would have to win five consecutive games, but as the potential 12th seed, the path might actually be the easiest. In that case, Minnesota would play 13-seed Penn State again and then advance to games vs. Purdue, Iowa and then the semi-final vs. Wisconsin or Michigan/Illinois before going up against the winner of the bottom half of the bracket.

If Minnesota loses to Penn State and Nebraska DOESN'T upset Maryland however, the path gets significantly tougher: Rutgers, Ohio State, Michigan State, {winner of Maryland vs Indiana/Northwestern} and then the winner of the other side of the bracket.

If Minnesota were to win vs Penn State, the Gophers' path looks tougher than Scenario one on paper, but consider that the Gophers have only faced the first three matchup teams once: Indiana, Maryland, {Michigan State or Ohio State unless the latter is upset by Northwestern or Rutgers} and then the winner of the other side of the bracket, potentially 1-seed Wisconsin or 4-seed Iowa.

None of the potential landscapes make it seem likely for the Gophers to somehow advance all the way to the championship game, but a win today is the only way Minnesota can control its own fate. Cutting one major matchup out of the equation could make a big difference.

Other notes on today's game:

**Today is senior day and five will be honored -- centers Mo Walker and Elliott Eliason, guard Andre Hollins and DeAndre Mathieu and walk-on Kendall Shell -- will be honored before the game.

**Minnesota has only been swept by Penn State one in the teams' history: 2011.

**Andre Hollins needs 38 points to surpass Randy Breuer for third on Minnesota's all-time scoring list.