The Minnesota Golden Gophers weren't selected to be in the 2012 NCAA Tournament field so the majority of Minnesotans will instead need to jump on the bandwagon for St. Cloud, Minn. native Nate Wolters and the South Dakota St. Jackrabbits. That or they could tune in to the National Invitational Tournament since Tubby Smith's team will be involved in their bracket.
The Gophers were given No. 6 seed in the annual also-ran tournament and will play the La Salle Explorers in the first round of the tournament. The game between Minnesota and La Salle will take place on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.
There were some that thought the Gophers would have needed to win two games in the Big Ten Tournament to make it into the NIT, but apparently their ability to force overtime against the Michigan Wolverines after upsetting the Northwestern Wildcats was enough.
For more on the Minnesota Golden Gophers, check out The Daily Gopher. You can also learn more about college basketball around the nation at SB Nation's College Basketball hub. A full NIT bracket is available here.