Minnesota Basketball: 2020-21 season preview for the Golden Gophers
By Jason Belt
Schedule outlook for 2020-21
The COVID shortened college basketball season is set to begin on November 25, barring any flare-ups with the pandemic.
Minnesota had a brief pause of team-related activities due to COVID-19 but returned to practice on November 14.
Aside from this, the Golden Gophers have a decent non-conference slate prepared for them this season, even though they were replaced in the 2020 Hall of Fame Tip-Off by South Florida.
As of now, Minnesota is expected to host Saint Louis this season, as well as Boston College in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
These two games will be critical for their strength of schedule if they want a berth in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
As far as Big Ten play goes, they’ll have their work cut out for them.
Top-heavy teams like Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa are in many analysts’ top 10’s and will be tough games for everybody they play, including the inexperienced Golden Gophers.
Games against teams like Rutgers, Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State will be important for Minnesota to gain traction in the tough Big Ten.
Stealing road games against any of the teams mentioned would be huge resume builders and could put the country on notice of the talent in Minneapolis.
Many analysts are projecting Minnesota to finish in the bottom 10 in the Big Ten, which isn’t too harsh based on the inexperience and loss of Daniel Oturu.
A decent showing in Big Ten play and a run in the Big Ten tournament could allow this team to snag a March Madness berth.