Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: Buy or sell on Ohio State, Minnesota, Nebraska and IU

By Austin Walther

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next
EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 09: Gabe Kalscheur #22 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers drives to the basket while defended by Kyle Ahrens #0 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on February 9, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
EAST LANSING, MI – FEBRUARY 09: Gabe Kalscheur #22 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers drives to the basket while defended by Kyle Ahrens #0 of the Michigan State Spartans in the second half at Breslin Center on February 9, 2019 in East Lansing, Michigan. (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Minnesota Golden Gophers – Buy

Minnesota has been pretty low on KenPom all season. The Golden Gophers played five power conference teams in non-conference and went 4-1. They beat Texas A&M, who is near the bottom of the SEC. They also knocked off Oklahoma State, who is in the basement of the Big 12. Utah was struggling, but they’re finding their way in an awful Pac-12. Washington is going to win the conference so that’s a good win. But the loss to Boston College isn’t good.

Talk about confusing with Minnesota. They won six straight, but the only two Big Ten wins during that time were Nebraska at home and Wisconsin on the road. Minnesota won every other game for six straight. The Gophers matched Iowa in a barn-burner by putting up over 90, which started a multiple-game winning streak. Minnesota faced three consecutive ranked opponents and lost them all. The only bad defeat was to decent Nebraska team who snapped a losing streak of their own.

The Golden Gophers may be falling into the same narrative as Indiana. They beat the Hoosiers at home, but now are losers of two straight. The most recent one was to Rutgers at the RAC. That’s never a kind place to Big Ten teams on the bubble. But remember, the Scarlet Knights are a borderline top-100 team, so at worst, that’s a Q2 loss.

At Northwestern is next on the docket. It’s kind of a must-win to avoid a 12th loss with two quality opponents to close out the season. It’s neither of the Michigan teams, but both Purdue and Maryland are eyeing protected seeds in the tournament. Minnesota has to take one out of two from them. One Big Ten Tournament win will do to get them to 20-13. That should be enough especially if they can pick up their six top-50 win.

Home/Big Ten