Welcome to the national stage Gopher Hoops. Sure, we were a top 10 ranked team that was starting to get a little love from around the country but last night's domination on the road over a top 15 team was a statement. In one night this team went from a really good team that people are keeping an eye on to one that is going to be in the conversation for a Big Ten title. I'm still nervous that expectations are rising too fast and too high, but there is no reason not to be excited about how good this team is and what they are accomplishing.

Let's get to the national love for the Gophers. Yahoo!s Pat Forde's tweet.

Gophers legit. I'm impressed. RT @wolfiemn @yahooforde With the win at Illinois, can we now consider Minnesota a Big Ten title contender?

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) January 10, 2013

ESPN's Andy Katz.

If this Minnesota-Illinois result holds it should put to rest any thoughts the Gophers were an early-season fluke. Shelf-life staying power.

— Andy Katz (@ESPNAndyKatz) January 10, 2013

ESPN/ABS's Jimmy Dykes.

If it comes down to overall team toughness, Gophers might win the Big10. Mbakwe sets that tone as well as anyone in college right now.

— Jimmy Dykes (@JimmyDykesLive) January 10, 2013

• BTN.com says "At 15-1, Minnesota is For Real". We are.
• Yahoo!'s The Dagger leads off with Minnesota this morning.
• Mark Titus is a former Ohio State walk-on guard who now writes for Grantland.com. He has the Gophers #7 in his power rankings. I kind of wonder if he is getting Austin and Andre mixed up a bit last week he called out Austin for poor shot selection from behind the arc. "he apparently thinks he's Blake Hoffarber with how often he shoots contested and ill-advised 3s." I would agree that Andre takes ill-advised threes but my memory tells me that Austin has decent shot selection. Side note: it would be really nice to have a shooter like Blake on this team.
• Down With Goldy live-blogged last night's game. This isn't national news but always hilarious.
• Sporting News has "Gopher Tough" trending as #2 on their front page today.
• This Golden Ticket Promotion is brilliant. I wish I would have seen it before the Big Ten season got going.

ADDITIONAL LINKS

• Gopher Football got a few players on this arbitrary Big Ten All-Bowl team.
• The Champaign Room recaps the Minnesota win over Illinois.