DESTINATION SWEET 16, U.S.A. — With the Twins season now over, it’s time to hone in our focus on Richard Pitino’s 2017-18 Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team. Prior to key rotation forward Eric Curry’s season-ending knee injury, I felt pretty comfortable saying the Gophers would be a Sweet 16-caliber (at least) squad. Now, sans sophomore Curry, the Sweet 16 remains a reasonable goal, but in my mind it definitely knocks the Gophers down a peg or two. Sixth or 7th men off the bench the quality of Curry don’t grow on trees.
The Gophers are now one key rotation-player injury away from being more like a bubble team than a sure-fire NCAA Tournament qualifier. Let’s cross our fingers and knock on wood that Amir Coffey, Reggie Lynch, Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer, Jordan Murphy, and Isaiah “Jelly” Washington (and to a lesser extent Bakary Konate) make it through the season unscathed. Those are the core guys now. Any significant contributions the Gophers get from oft-injured junior wing Davonte Fitzgerald, unproven sophomore wing Michael Hurt, or freshman guard Jamir Harris would be an added bonus.
Fear not, the Gophers remain in our preseason Field of 68 projection, but the B1G is going to be a crap-shoot this season (after Michigan State) 2 through 10, despite the fact that, as a whole, conference teams scheduled very poorly for the non-conference season. The only teams I see with no chance of reaching the NCAA Tournament are Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Rutgers. Anywhere from 6 to 8 teams are likely to make the field. I’m going with a B1G all-time best of 8. One or two of the B1G teams making the Field of 68 may surprise you, as will most assuredly one of the teams getting left out. What fun are projections if one goes with all chalk?
PRESEASON FIELD OF 68 PROJECTION (October 3)
America East (1): Vermont
AAC (4): Cincinnati, Connecticut, Temple, Wichita State
ACC (7): Duke, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia, Virginia Tech
ASUN (1): North Florida
Atlantic 10 (2): Rhode Island, Saint Bonaventure
Big East (6): Butler, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, Xavier
Big Sky (1): Montana
Big South (1): NC Asheville
B1G (8): Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
Big XII (5): Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, TCU, West Virginia
Big West (1): UC Irvine
CAA (1): Northeastern
Conference USA (1): Middle Tennessee
Horizon (1): Oakland
Ivy (1): Princeton
MAAC (1): Monmouth
MAC (1): Ball State
MEAC (1): Coppin State
MVC (1): Illinois State
Mountain West (2): Colorado State, Nevada
NEC (1): FDU
OVC (1): Belmont
Pac 12 (4): Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, USC
Patriot (1): Bucknell
SEC (6): Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee
SoCon (1): Western Carolina
Southland (1): Houston Baptist
SWAC (1): Texas Southern
Summit (1): ORU
Sun Belt (1): Georgia Southern
WCC (2): Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s
WAC (1): New Mexico State
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Last 4 In: Colorado State, Connecticut, Marquette, Penn State
First 4 Out: Maryland, Oregon, Saint Joseph’s, Texas A&M
Non-Power 6 At-Larges (6): Colorado State, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Saint Bonaventure, Temple, Wichita State
Keep An Eye On (16): Arizona State, College of Charleston, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Grand Canyon, Harvard, Indiana, La Salle, Oregon State, San Francisco, SMU, Texas Arlington, Texas Tech, UAB, UCF, VCU
Gophers 2017-18 Power 6 Peer Group (like the Gophers, these P6 programs have appeared in 5 NCAA tourneys since 2000): Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Seton Hall, Texas Tech
Destined to Disappoint? Maryland, Oregon, SMU, Texas A&M, TCU
Ready to Make A Big Jump? Georgia Tech, La Salle, Oregon State, Texas Tech, UCF
Sweet 16 Sleepers: Alabama, Nevada, Oakland, Rhode Island, Stanford
Final 4: Arizona, Duke, Michigan State, USC
National Champions: Michigan State
B1G Predictions
1 Michigan State
2 Purdue
3 Minnesota
4 Northwestern
5 Michigan
6 Iowa
7 Wisconsin
8 Penn State
9 Maryland
10 Indiana
11 Illinois
12 Ohio State
13 Rutgers
14 Nebraska
Road to Selection Sunday NCAA Tournament trivia stumper: Can you name the 5 programs that have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since the year 2000?