The Gophers men's and women's basketball teams both open extreme longshot bids in their Big Ten conference basketball tournament starting Wednesday in Indianapolis.
Gophers men's, women's basketball teams have Wednesday Big Ten tournament openers
March 8, 2021 at 6:57PM
The Minnesota women are seeded ninth and play No. 8 Nebraska at 10 a.m., with the winner advancing to face regular-season champion Maryland at 10 a.m. Thursday. The opening game will be on BTN and the second game — a tournament quarterfinal — will be on FS2.
The Gophers won both of their regular-season games against the Nebraska women, including a 73-63 victory at Williams Arena on Feb. 24.
The 13th-seeded men open against No. 12 Northwestern at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game plays No. 5 Ohio State in a Thursday game that is scheduled to start at about 1 p.m. Both of those games will be on BTN.
Minnesota's men, who have lost seven games in a row, would need to win both of those to move into the conference quarterfinals. Northwestern defeated the Gophers 67-59 on Feb. 25 as part of their current losing streak.
Winning the postseason tournament, and the automatic bid that comes with it, is currently seen as the only way either team would make the NCAA tournament field.
Small town has won handfuls of state titles with lots of parent involvement, some versatile coaches.
