In what world are you living in that this would be the expectation? If you look at the Gophers tournament history, they've been to the Big Dance 4 times in the last 10 years. If you count the 1997 Final 4 run, they've been to the Sweet 16 twice since 1990. That's twice in 29 years. Lets get to the tournament first and worry about the run later.
The bottom line is this: If the Gophers beat Northwestern and Purdue, they're dancing regardless of what happens in the BTT. Joe Lunardi was the only Bracketologist who didn't have them in yesterday, and the others didn't even have them as one of the "last 4 in." The bubble is weaker than normal this year and they have quality wins over Iowa, Wisconsin and Washington. They need to win 2 of the last 3 to be stress free heading to the conference tournament. Will they make a run if they get there? Who knows, it's all about match-ups in the NCAAs. But there's nothing better than getting your name called on Selection Sunday, and I have a feeling most of us on here will be excited if that happens. What matters is despite what's happened the last 2 weeks, the Gophers largely still control their own destiny.