Basketball questions: Are the Wolves NBA title contenders? Are the Gophers good?

The Gophers men's basketball team was picked by conference media members to finish last in the Big Ten (again) this season. They are instead tied for second (3-1) and carry a seven-game overall winning streak into Indiana on Friday.

The Timberwolves had a preseason over-under wagering win total of 44.5. They are 26-11, the best record in the Western Conference, and on pace for 58 wins at the end of the year. They also are tied for the easiest remaining schedule in the entire NBA.

The two top men's basketball teams in Minnesota have clearly overachieved so far compared to expectations. And as the facts changed, opinions — and expectations — changed along with them.

A question I tried to get into on Thursday's Daily Delivery podcast: Just how much have expectations changed for both teams? Specifically: do we need to reframe the Gophers as being a legitimately good team? And do we need to think of the Timberwolves as legitimate NBA title contenders?

The Wolves are perhaps the more interesting question, especially after seeing the mixed reaction on social media to a shorthanded, tired Minnesota team falling in overtime to Boston after seemingly having the game in hand.

My take: Win that game, and I'm ready to put you in the legit contender category. But real contenders aren't content with moral victories. They still have things to prove. And the Wolves still have things to prove. Plenty of you disagreed, which is healthy!

By the end of the season, maybe sooner, the Wolves might play their way into that status. But this is still a franchise that hasn't won a playoff series in 20 years and hasn't, frankly, accomplished anything except a nice first half this year.

But the fact that we're even having this conversation shows how far expectations have shifted. And dealing with those expectations is an entirely different issue.

The Gophers, similarly, are just discovering their potential. Head coach Ben Johnson said of Sunday's comeback win over Maryland:

"We had to go through a first half where there's a different type of energy in the building and a different type of expectation. Guys feel that. They can deny it all they want, but I know they do and, and that's part of it. We haven't gone through that."

The Gophers' next four games: at Indiana, Iowa, at Michigan State, Wisconsin. They need to win at least one of those next three to make that Wisconsin game feel big. If they do, and then beat the Badgers, we can say they're good.

But even now, we can say this: the conversation has changed, and clearly for the better.

• Also on today's podcast, Gophers women's hockey senior Madeline Wethington joined me. Her family tree is like a who's who of hockey in Minnesota, and her future — either more hockey or medical school — is bright.

• I was excited for the debut of Wild goalie Jesper Wallstedt. It did not go well.

• Bill Belichick, Nick Saban and Pete Carroll exiting the football coaching ranks within 24 hours of each other is quite a thing.