STrib: Will the Gophers reach the Sweet 16 this season? One preview mag says so

per Marcus:

It’s been decades since Gophers basketball won more than one game in the NCAA tournament.

The vacated Final Four season is in our hearts but not in the record books. So you’ll have to go back to 1990 Elite Eight season to find the last Minnesota team to go on a run in the Big Dance.

Well, the Gophers might just have the talent to make it to the Sweet 16 this season, according to Athlon Sports college basketball preview magazine. The preseason annual has Minnesota earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament – and beating Harvard and Xavier before falling to eventual national champion Arizona in the Sweet 16 in Richard Pitino’s fifth season.

The days of the Gophers hoops being slated as underdogs going into the season are over.

Athlon also projects Minnesota to finish runner-up to Michigan State in the Big Ten in 2017-18. Lindy’s Sports already had the Gophers finishing third in the Big Ten behind the Spartans and Northwestern.

http://www.startribune.com/will-the...his-season-one-preview-mag-says-so/442890473/

Go Gophers!!

In order to take the next step, they need a decent tourney run. It should boost national perception, recruiting, donations, etc.

When you're returning this squad, and adding some nice peices (Jelly, maybe Fitz, guys like Hurt have another year under the belt), anything less is a failure, even with the loss of Curry.

Heracles said:

In order to take the next step, they need a decent tourney run. It should boost national perception, recruiting, donations, etc.

When you're returning this squad, and adding some nice peices (Jelly, maybe Fitz, guys like Hurt have another year under the belt), anything less is a failure, even with the loss of Curry.

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I understand what you're saying about a tourney run (Sweet 16) being important, but would you really consider a season with a (let's say) Big Ten championship or 2nd-place finish followed by a Round of 32 exit a failure? Disappointing, bitter finish, absolutely, but I would not call that a failure given what the program has been (below average in Big Ten) for quite some time.