All Things D2 & D3 College Basketball

Minnesota Duluth is having a great run. Beating Washburn is tough, that's a very well-coached program with good depth. They took out Minnesota State-Moorhead last year.

The Bulldogs have a good coach in Justin Wieck, he brought UMD to the Elite Eight before in 2023. It's kind of bittersweet because he was an assistant for a while at MSUM previously.

Updating this, Minnesota Duluth fell to Oklahoma Baptist in the Sweet 16 last night, 80-76. The last Minnesota team to make the Elite Eight was Minnesota State-Mankato, winning the title in 2024.

Since 2010, Minnesota teams to make the DII Elite Eight are:

• 2010, St. Cloud State
• 2011, Minnesota State-Mankato
• 2013, Winona State
• 2015, Minnesota State-Moorhead
• 2023, Minnesota Duluth
• 2024, Minnesota State-Mankato

The last few years have been better in the tournament for Minnesota, since UMD reached the Elite Eight in 2023 and MSU Mankato winning in 2024, as well as MSUM and UMD getting to the Sweet 16 in 2025 and 2026.

That stretch of time from 2016-2022 was definitely Augustana, Northern State and Northwest Missouri State in the way.

Interestingly, MSUM beat another team in this year's Elite Eight, Black Hills State, early in the season, 100-85.