Michael Conroy - AP

Ohio State's Evan Turner. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

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The Gophers are playing for a banner as they are participating in their first ever Big Ten Championship! 

Most of us are satisfied that an NCAA Tournament bid is nearly secured, but really we are playing for more.  This is actually an opportunity to earn a banner to hang in The Barn.  This has been a good run but a win today would make this a GREAT run.

Can the Gophers beat all three Big Ten champs in three consecutive days?  Repeat after me Gopher fans...YES WE CAN.  Though it won't be easy.

Why we can't win?  Evan Turner.  He is outstanding and unguardable. I look forward to him as a Timberwolf next season.

Why we can win?  Ohio State is playing their third game in three days.  Now before you point out that we are playing our fourth game in four days remember that we go 10 deep.  Ohio State goes just six, maybe seven, deep.  And our bench has been outstanding in this tournament.  Guys like Devron Bostick, Paul Carter, Justin Cobbs and Colten Iverson have been playing incredible.  Add to that, the fact that Blake Hoffarber has had good games against Ohio State and this game may not be the slam dunk for Ohio State that everyone thinks it is.

Should be fun, might be awesome.

(PJS Update: Some pregame links) ...

ESPN's Adam Rittenberg, who has done a great job blogging the BTT Tournament,with a quick conference championship game preview.

Updated bubble watch and bracketology from ESPN. Bubble watch notes numerous times that Minnesota likely gets in and Illinois doesn't. That has to kill Illini fans, but it's the right call. Minnesota's beaten more top 50 RPI teams, has a better record against the likely NCAA field, beat Illinois on the road and is playing more consistently well down the stretch.

Patrick Reusse feels like being negative.

Know the opponent: Buckeye Battle Cry and Eleven Warriors has a nice preview up.

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News says "Minnesota is together now."

The GopherHole's Selection Sunday, who has been very accurate predicting the at-large teams in the past, has the Gophers comfortably in and Illinois in if Mississippi State can't pull the upset against Kentucky. 

Finally, something to think positively about. While Ohio State is the favorite today, they will be coming back from a double overtime game. Thad Matta's short bench meant that yesterday Evan Turner played 49 minutes. David Lighty and William Buford played 50. Jon Diebler played 42 minutes. Contrast that with Minnesota, which was able to rest players. Devoe Joseph played 22 minutes. Blake Hoffarber led the team with 26. 

Jim Mone - AP

(AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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This game would certainly get us into the Tournament but we have to actually win it.  How could they keep a team out who has a win over Butler, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue (and Illinois for that matter)?  But looking ahead does us absolutely no good, we absolutely have to earn this win.

Minnesota is becoming a team with some buzz, and they should be after a domination of Penn State and a clutch win over Michigan State.  Watching College Game Day this morning, all three of their national analysts picked Minnesota to win.  The common theme was that Robbie Hummel is out for the Boilermakers.  But I'm not convinced that will be enough.

We are playing our third game in three days.  Add that to the fact that Purdue plays the best team defense in the conference.  We are going to have to work hard on each and every offensive possession and I'm afraid that will catch up to us.  To counter-act that we need to get several easy baskets whether that comes in transition off a steal or some quality inside/out offense to get some open shots for Blake Hoffarber, Devoe Joseph or Lawrence Westbrook.

Ralph Sampson III had a breakout game last time we faced Purdue.  His 21 points and 7 rebounds will not likely be duplicated but one of our big men needs to out-muscle Purdue's JaJuan Johnson and you know that is what we try to do early offensively.

My pick for player of the game is Damian Johnson.  DJ Swat has been playing well this tournament and for the first time he will not be faced with defending Hummel.  Johnson will have more room to be an offensive weapon and should be more effective defensively.

Jeff Wheeler - AP

Minnesota's Ralph Sampson III. (AP Photo/Star Tribune, Jeff Wheeler)

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Bring on the Chris Allen less Spartans.  Step one is complete, now it is on to step two of world domination the quest for respect in the Big Ten tournament.  The 21 point win over Penn State was nice but I don't think it turned any heads nor did it earn them any respect.  Damian Johnson had a nice game but if he wants to prove anything then stopping Raymar Morgan from another 17 pt and 6 reb game might get it done.  If Lawrence Westbrook wants to continue to prove that the Big Ten coaches should have recognized him with their end of season awards then go out and have another turnover-less game and keep Kalin Lucas to under 20 points. 

The Gophers are capable but they need to play well, play together and play hard (anyone remember that from the Clem days?).  Rebounding is always a key against the Spartans and more than anything else I'm looking for our interior to really play great tonight.  I'd love to see both bigs get into double figures tonight and see Sampson really establish himself and that sweet baby-hook in the paint.

Finally, if this team wants to earn more respect and get themselves back into the NCAA Tournament then this is the game to do it.  Penn State was nice, but let's get another signature neutral court win and at least make things hard on the selection committee.

Janet Hostetter - AP

Penn State's Talor Battle drives around Minnesota's Lawrence Westrbrook. (AP Photo/Janet Hostetter)

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The way I see it, we need 2 guys to step up tonight and we have four or five guys capable of doing so.  In the first meeting between these fine mediocre teams it was Lawrence Westbrook who stepped up with 29 points while Blake Hoffarber chipped in 11.  Game 2 was a little different when we had four guys who scored in the dozen to baker's dozen range. Here are the most likely candidates

• Blake Hoffarber - I really think he's going to have at least one huge game in this tournament.  Maybe it will be today, maybe it will be tomorrow (if we survive).  He has scored 11 points or more in 13 games.  We are undefeated in those games.  So either he is just able to score more points against weaker competition or when he scores the rest of the team is significantly better.
• Ralph Sampson III - had his second best Big Ten game at Penn state when he recorded a double-double.  Ralph is capable of dominating the paint tonight and if he does things should really roll for the Gophers.
• Damian Johnson - Nobody has more to prove today than DJ Swat who is rather disappointed that he was left off the Big Ten All-Defensive team.  I think you'll see a typical all-around performance from Johnson, if he can get up into that 15+ point range then life should be good.
• Lawrence Westbrook - how could I forget LW who had what I feel was his best game as a Gopher in the first Penn State game.  The problem was the second game when he tried to recreate his first game.  The result was a season high six turnovers to go with 0/5 shooting from behind the arc.  He is capable of carrying this team, but he is also capable of doing more damage than good.

I'm asking for two of them to step up.  The best part of this is that we can win even if Talor Battle has a good game.  He averaged 22 ppg in the two Gopher meetings and his team still came out 0-2.  So keep him under 25 and then take care of our own business on both ends of the floor. 

Penn State is hot, but I like our chances to move on to Michigan State.

We all know that an NCAA Tournament is essentially out of the picture. This was a disappointing season in more ways than one.  But that doesn't mean there is nothing to play for today.  A chance for Tubby' boys to finish .500 in the Big Ten and a chance to sweep our traditional rivals for the season are still on the line.

And the next game of the season is up.  The Gophers are looking to exact revenge on the Wolverines who easily handled a listless Gopher squad last month in The Barn. 

The Lineups

The Stats

Seriously, how did we lose to these guys last time around?  Just contain Sims and Harris, we should be fine.  It would also be nice to see Hoffarber get back on track as well and then watch the Gophers roll to victory!

Jim Mone - AP

Minnesota's Ralph Sampson III, top, dunks against Wisconsin in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, in Minneapolis. Minnesota won 68-52. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

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Heartbreaking loss on Wednesday, but can the Gophers rebound and get a win in Illinois?  We never win there and it will take a miracle for us to make the NCAA Tournament.  But we have played well lately and this is a great time to continue to get better.  Can Sampson dominate again?  Can we win a game on the road?  Can we win a game if this is close at the end?

Charlie Neibergall - AP

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For the first time this year, I'm live courtside.  Hopefully to witness the biggest Gopher win of the year.

After beating Wisconsin on Thursday the Gophers are given exactly one day to rest before hosting Indiana.  What was once considered a sure win now is not so certain.  Indiana knocked off Minnesota in an overtime game back in mid-January.  This was the loss that really started the tailspin we witnessed for the last month.

Hopefully the Wisconsin win is a catalyst and today's pending Indian win will get us on a winning streak as we next face Purdue and Illinois.  I know we all have been rather down on this 2010 version of Gopher basketball but amazingly a win today gets us back to .500 in the Big Ten.

I'm nervous about...

Verdell Jones.  The once "almost Gopher" had 24 points and this time around our perimeter defense isn't what it was back on Jan 17th.

What I'm confident about...

Rebounding  Call me crazy for being confident about this (IU outrebounded us by 11 last time around) but I expect to see the "big lineup" again and we destroyed the Badgers on the glass

I think the Gophers win this, win it comfortably and we start gaining some confidence.

With the hopes of an NCAA Tournament fading the Gophers still have something to play for.  Ruining the Badger's hopes of a Big Ten Championship and high NCAA Tournament seed should be more than enough motivation for the Gophers.

Wisconsin has a 9-4 conference mark and they are just a game and a half behind Michigan State.  With some easy games looming for the Badgers this would be a killer to their title hopes.  Go get'em Gophs!