A couple of weeks ago, it looked like the Minnesota Golden Gophers were pretty much dead in the water when it came to their chances at making the NCAA Tournament after a lackluster end to the regular season. Their win over Northwestern on Thursday changed the perceptions a bit, though, and a win over the Michigan Wolverines on Friday could raise some eyebrows and push the Gophers back into tournament contention.

The second-seeded Wolverines claimed a share of the Big Ten regular season title, which earned them their highest seed ever in Big Ten tournament play. They're firmly entrenched in the tournament, but seem to be the least respected of the three title sharing teams and a loss to Minnesota would chip them down a few pegs on the brackets.

The game will be on BTN at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time.

The current Big Ten bracket can be found here.

For more on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, check out The Daily Gopher. For more on the Michigan Wolverines, head to Maize N Brew. For complete Big Ten tournament coverage, keep checking this StoryStream.