WE’RE GOING DANCING! Gophers get last-minute Big Dance invite

Unless you have been living in a cave you know this is obviously not a serious post....but just roll with it K?

They said it couldn’t be done! But after a raucous week in the Big Ten Tournament and a historic run through the bracket the Gophers did enough in the eyes of the selection committee to warrant an invite to the NCAA Tournament. They’ll play-in against the Texas Longhorns as a 12-seed in Dayton on Tuesday for the right to face Auburn in the East regional.

Selection Committee Chair Kevin White noted in his interview on CBS that Minnesota was, in fact, the final at-large team selected into the tournament, which isn’t surprising considering where they were in the whole college basketball landscape just a week ago. White said that Minnesota’s peripheral numbers like strength of schedule, NET ranking and their run through the tournament factored into the committee’s decision. Wow.

The East region houses the #1 Dayton, #2 Villanova, #3 Michigan State and #4 Louisville. Looking through the bracket Minnesota’s path to the Final Four would have to go through Louisville (again!), Dayton, and potentially Michigan State again should things play out that way.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and enjoy the moment for at least a couple days that the Gophers are, in fact, NCAA Tournament bound. What a ride.

See you Tuesday. Time to breathe.