Gopher Men are Officially Dancing

Well, I’m too pumped up to sleep, so I might as well write an article. As you all know, the unthinkable dream that became a legitimate dream that became a serious possibility and then a lock has now become official. The Gopher men’s basketball team is back in the Big Dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Gophers are the #8 seed (meaning they likely would have been in even with a loss to Indiana) in the Syracuse Regional. Their opening round opponent will be the Iowa State Cyclones. The game will be played in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday. The unofficial tip-off time is 11:30 (Central).

In addition to being a nice regional rivalry (if you can have a rivalry with a team you haven’t played since 1992), this figures to be a heck of a game. The Cyclones are a talented and streaky team. They finished a solid 9-7 in the difficult Big Twelve, and their resume includes impressive wins over NCAA Tournament teams Oklahoma, Texas (on the road), Texas Tech, and Kansas (on the road). Were it not for a few bad losses, the Cyclones would have been contending for a conference championship and significantly higher seed.

If Minnesota can manage to get past Iowa State, the North Carolina Tarheels figure to be waiting for them. In addition to being the popular pick for most talented team in the country, the Tarheels will also be enjoying a large homecourt advantage in Charlotte. Fortunately, the Gophers have already played #1 Illinois twice in Illinois, so they know what to expect.

While the Gophers certainly could have drawn an easier road (ironically, they probably would have had they lost to Indiana), I personally think this bracket is perfect. Simply getting into the NCAA Tournament already has me grinning from ear to ear, so the rest of the season is just gravy. So, an exciting first-round match-up and arguably the toughest second-round game imaginable sound like a lot of fun.

So just sit back, have fun, and hopefully try to get a little sleep at some point. It’s March Madness, and the Gophers are finally a part of it again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about the Big Dance on our Gopher Basketball message board.