Monday (The Gophers' good fortune) edition: Wha' Happened?

Different people have different theories about luck. Some think that we make our own luck and that those who put their heads down, work hard and plow forward with good intentions create more of their own opportunities than those who don't. Another point of view, though, is that luck -- like all matter in the universe -- balances out in the end. Still others would say there is no rhyme or reason to it. Luck just comes and goes without predictability. That's why they call it luck.

Regardless of what you think -- and if you have watched Vikings playoff football for any number of years, you might have certain theories -- there is no denying that, after a season of mostly hard luck (much of it brought on by themselves), the Gophers men's basketball team has enjoyed a recent stretch of extraordinarily good fortune. It is also certainly true that they took advantage of the opportunities granted them in most cases and have now at least made something out of a seemingly wasted season by snaring one of the last berths in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

(Pictured from the preseason: Devoe Joseph, Royce White, Rodney Williams, Devron Bostick and Trevor Mbakwe in a bizarre but somehow fitting photo).

We do not need to rehash the off-court embarrassments and on-court frustrations that preceded this stretch. Everyone is well aware of them. But we just have to point out a few of the more recent positive developments. In hockey, they would call it having a horseshoe in your breezers. In basketball, we're not sure where the Gophers would put it, but it was there:

*This game at Illinois, which might have been the difference in which Big Ten team received the fifth bid in the conference. Minnesota led by 19 with a little over 7 minutes left and wound up winning by two. It was the kind of game the Gophers had blown all year. Somehow, they didn't blow this one.

*The path in the Big Ten tournament. The Gophers got to start with No. 11 seed Penn State, which doesn't help a team's RPI at all but does pad the win column with an extra game. They then moved on to a pair of ranked teams playing at less than full strength: no Chris Allen for Michigan State and no Robbie Hummel for Purdue. The Michigan State game, during which Minnesota opened up a reasonable lead for much of the second half only to have the game go into overtime, felt like it would be the fitting end to a forgettable season. Then Devoe Joseph hit a couple of deep threes, and next thing you know the Gophers are crushing the floundering Boilermakers.

*Two of the Gophers' direct bubble competitors -- Illinois and Mississippi State -- lost absolute heartbreakers in their conference tourneys. If Illinois beats Ohio State in the semis instead of losing in 2OT, we think Minnesota plays Illinois on Sunday in a winner-take-all game, where the winner gets the bid and the loser goes home (the Big Ten was not a six-bid league, and the committee would have loved to see those two teams hash it out on the court). That's not to say Minnesota would have lost the game, since it already defeated the Illini once, but still: playing Ohio State and losing by 29 was still enough to get in, which meant that was probably the easier path.

*The Gophers not only received a bid, but they get to travel within their own time zone and play in Milwaukee, where theoretically at least they will have fans willing to drive and show them some love.

Did they deserve this? If you believe you make your own luck, the Gophers did go 7-3 down the stretch and beat some pretty good teams. If you believe that luck evens out, then they were certainly due some of the good stuff.