Big Ten Tournament 2012: Loss to Michigan Means No Postseason for Minnesota

There was hope for Minnesota after Thursday's big win against Northwestern, but all of that went out the window when the Gophers blew Friday's quarterfinal game against Michigan, effectively ending its postseason hopes.

The Gophers were only looking for a bid to the NIT, but Friday's 73-69 overtime loss to the Wolverines seemingly shattered those aspirations. At 19-14 overall and an abysmal 6-12 in conference play, Minnesota still had a shot at a postseason tournament, but it needed to make a run after taking down Northwestern in the first round of the conference tournament—and for a little while against Michigan, it looked like that could happen, which is why the loss stings so much.

"The thing was in our hands," Gophers coach Tubby Smith told TwinCities.com's Marcus R. Fuller, "and we just didn't get it done. We'll have to wait and see what happens."

The nail in the coffin for the Gophers could be the fact that they started off the season well but struggled mightily down the stretch. Through December 22, Minnesota went 12-1, but then embarked on a four-game losing streak against Illinois, Michigan, Iowa and Purdue. The Gophers endured another (longer) tough stretch in February, when they registered just one win and suffered losses to Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, Michigan State and Wisconsin, among others.

Still, Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told TwinCities.com he'd be surprised if the team got snubbed from the postseason altogether.

"I would be disappointed if we weren't an NIT team, quite frankly, because we're a pretty good basketball team right now," he said.

The truth is, it will be hard to justify giving a team a postseason bid that could barely win in the month it mattered most. A first-round win in the conference tournament was nice, especially since it came against an NCAA bubble team, but it's not enough.

Minnesota simply needed to do more.