I'm going to focus my bracket on a few of those solid facts this year. The Mountain West is 1-24 including 22 straight losses. That's bad. I'm not picking a single MWC team to win. :)
Not wishing anything bad on Colorado State, but in our favor, this could be resolved sooner rather than later:
45. Mountain West teams seeded 10th or worse are 1-24 in the first round, including 22 straight losses.
All four conference teams to earn a bid are double-digit seeds: New Mexico...
Tournament facts from ESPN. Cool stuff here. No idea why this came out as africa.espn. My wife was looking at the same and hers was singapore.espn. Weird.
https://africa.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/44056972/2025-march-madness-bracket-facts-mens-ncaa-tournament
While I think the Gophers are about 25 years overdue for a good break I can't help but think this is the guy who thought Ben Johnson was the answer in the first place. I'm hopeful because I don't think things could be much worse but I will wait and see with bated breath what will happen.
It's been inexplicable to me. We've had teams that should have beat up on them like they're 3rd graders yet we've found new and frustrating ways to lose. Until the Gophers turn that around for a few years it's hard to think they'll win.
So sorry to be the bringer of bad news but Northwestern for whatever reason has had our number for about the last 20 years. I see no reason why they won't today. Gophers lose this one and we get on with decisions about next season.
Someone would have to explain to me like I'm a 6 year old:
Why people think we're some sort of an elite program that a coach would desire to come to. It is really too bad about Johnson. It seems to me that he would be invested in the long term success of the basketball program unlike others...