It's no secret that Wednesday's loss to Iowa significantly hurt the Gophers.
It halted what was a chance to get another winning streak going after a huge win against Illinois. It kept them from reaching .500 in the Big Ten for the first time this season. It also brought up old questions about the Gophers' ability to compete in the conference.
But looking down the road, there's something else that could be equally – if not more – meaningfully effected as result of the uncomfortable road tumble: the Gophers' potential NCAA tournament bid.
Right now, the Gophers and Iowa are tied at eighth place in the Big Ten standings. As it is, both ESPN and CBS sports brackets have Minnesota getting a bid and Iowa not getting one. But if the two teams end up with similar records in the Big Ten, the Gophers have just given the committee two reasons to chose the Hawkeyes over them -- or perhaps more likely, reasons not to take either team.
The Gophers' non-conference is significantly better than Iowa's and helps them a little in this case. Neither team played any real head-turners, but the Gophers, at least, took care of business while Iowa went just 8-5 against some questionable competition.
As a result, Minnesota's RPI (51) is far superior to Iowa's (118). The Gophers' two losses to the Hawkeyes are their only losses to a sub-100 RPI team.
If the Gophers finish solidly ahead of the Hawkeyes, perhaps the losses could be chalked up to simply bad games. But if they continue to hover together like this, there could be trouble.
