Chart: Gophers poor Big Ten starts and the NCAA tournament
January 14, 2015 at 7:04AM
The Gophers never have made the modern NCAA tournament after starting the Big Ten with a three-or-more-game losing streak. Here's a look at those seasons since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985:
Big Ten
SeasonstartFinal recordSeason notes
1985-860-315-16, 5-13Opened with three road losses in a row.
1987-880-510-18, 4-14Clem Haskins' second season started badly and crashed.
1997-98*0-620-15, 6-10Team recovered, but was 13-14 at end of regular season.
2003-040-812-18, 3-13First Big Ten victory didn't come until Feb. 11.
2005-060-616-15, 5-11Streak included triple-overtime loss at Iowa.
2011-120-423-15, 6-12Team recovered but later lost six in a row to fall off bubble.
2014-150-5TBDThey will need a big winning streak to reach NCAAs.
* Season later vacated because of academic scandal
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A study of comments by athletic director Mark Coyle since he fired Ben Johnson indicates the U's potential approach.
