9 players who can help their team advance in the Big Ten Tournament

Dawson Garcia (Minnesota)

We haven’t heard much from Minnesota in recent years, though that seemed to change at times this season. The Golden Gophers did finish under .500 in league play, but it was a major improvement over last season, thanks to Garcia and a few other weapons.

A former player at Marquette and North Carolina, Garcia has seemingly found a great landing spot with Minnesota. Already a major contributor last season, he’s put up improved numbers in year two with the Golden Gophers, averaging 17.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game this season.

Garcia is not the type of player who’ll regularly kill you from long-range, but he has had some monster efforts this season. He had 36 points and 10 rebounds in a tough loss at Ohio State back in December and recently poured in 30 points in the season finale against Northwestern, albeit in another loss.

While Minnesota earned just the 9-seed in the Big Ten Tournament, they’re a team that has the home-field advantage with the event being played in Minneapolis. With the way that Garcia can pop off in some of these games, the Golden Gophers become a sneaky candidate to win a game or two this week in front of their fans.