The Minnesota Golden Gophers aren't having the season they'd been hoping for after a brilliant opening to the season that had them at 12-1 and rearing to go in a competitive Big 10 conference. Most of the big wins weren't over highly regarded teams, but they hoped that the momentum alone would be enough to give a spark in conference play.
Unfortunately four straight losses in a row to highly regarded Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Purdue teams shot the Golden Gophers right down to the bottom of the table in the Big 10. They've since rebounded a bit with two big wins over the Indiana Hoosiers and Penn State but they still have a long way to go if they want to snag an At Large bid this March.
Minnesota get another good chance to carve out another W on the charts as they take on the third from the bottom Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday at 4 PM EST. Northwestern have had a somewhat similar story to the Gophers as they share the same 2-4 record, each with a big win over a ranked opponent in the Big 10; Northwestern beat seventh ranked Michigan State earlier last week.
For more on the Gophers, check out The Daily Gopher.