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It was moving day for both the Minnesota Golden Gophers men’s and women’s basketball teams when the newest AP Polls came out on Monday. The men moved up nearly cracking the Top 25 win their big win at Wisconsin last week while the women dropped six spots after a pair of Big Ten losses.
The Gopher men received 23 votes in this week’s poll which places them in the 29th spot. Only four Big Ten teams are in the Top 25 with Michigan Wolverines at #2, the Michigan State Spartans at #6, Ohio State Buckeyes at #16 and the Indiana Hoosiers at #22. But there is a big B1G logjam in the teams that are receiving votes but were not good enough to make the top 25. Wisconsin Badgers come in at #27, Iowa Hawkeyes are #28, the Gophers are #29, Purdue Boilermakers are #30, Nebraska Cornhuskers are #31 and Maryland Terrapins who the Gophers face on Tuesday are #32. If Minnesota can get a big win Tuesday night and not falter against the garbage fire that is Rutgers Scarlet Knights at home next Saturday, the Gophers will have a good chance of cracking the Top 25 next week.
On the women’s side, it wasn’t as good news. Minnesota dropped from #12 in the poll for the previous few weeks to #18 after a pair of losses in the Big Ten schedule. Minnesota lost to Michigan on the road on New Years Eve, and then blew a 10 point lead after three quarters at home to an Illinois Fighting Illini team that got its first Big Ten win in 29 contests. Oof.
The Gophers are one of five Big Ten teams in the Top 25 with Maryland at #9, Iowa at #17, the Gophers at #18, Michigan State at #23 and Indiana at #25. The Gophers schedule gets no easier this week as after losing to two unranked teams they now head to East Lansing to face the #23 Spartans on Wednesday night before a huge home game against Iowa on Monday.