If anybody can actually throw down a dunk in a conference game like this, you have to believe that a team is feeling good about itself. After a game in which they upended the Indiana Hoosiers, the Minnesota Gophers absolutely wiped the floor with the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Penn State, along with Nebraska, are perhaps the two teams with the biggest talent AND strategy deficit. Northwestern, for example, just has the talent deficit. Some nights, Purdue has a serious strategy deficit because of their youth. I digress. Beating Penn State badly was a show that, when talent is disparate, Minnesota can do away with teams easily.
Their final games are against Nebraska and Purdue, and if they keep playing loose like they did today (I mean, look at that dunk and tell me Rodney Williams isn’t feeling loose), they will move up to 10-8 in the Big Ten, on top of a 1 loss non-conference schedule. Make the slightest of runs in the Big Ten tournament, and they are 6/7 seed in the Big Dance.
That’s exactly where they should be. They had a tough stretch over the past month, but the Gophers are in a really good place right now. Taken on the whole, assuming two more wins, I think you have to label this season a success.
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