Are you sure about that?In 1997, Gopher basketball is all anyone wanted to talk about with me because they knew we had season tickets. My work colleague and her husband--NDSU alumni from Minnesota--were living and dying with the team's games. I don't remember now much scalped tickets were going for, but getting ahold of any was a coup.
They were on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Once they got into the top 10, the local media was all over the story, including even MPR. The whole city was in a hangover the night and next day after they lost to Kentucky. It was a phenomenon.