According to reports, however, the search is already over. Coyle has his guy, in Colorado State head coach Niko Medved, a University of Minnesota alum who was born and raised in the Minneapolis area. On Saturday, the Rams won the Mountain West Conference Tournament by knocking off Boise State, 69-56, locking in their NCAA Tournament reservation.

Despite remaining outside the top 25 all season, Medved’s Rams finished 2024-25 with a 25-9 record. Colorado State’s automatic bid to March Madness also means that any hiring announcement involving Medved and his alma mater will have to wait. This is Niko’s second-straight NCAA tournament appearance with the Rams, and third in the last four years.

Next reported Minnesota Gophers coach Niko Medved is tourney bound

On Selection Sunday, the (reported) future Minnesota Gophers head coach and his Colorado State Rams received the No. 12 seed in the West Region. Their first game is Friday, March 21 vs the 5-seed Memphis Tigers, who went 29-5 this season under former NBA legend Anfernee Hardaway, who’s in his 7th season running the program.

THE FULL MEN'S NCAA TOURNAMENT BRACKET 🔥

Make YOUR bracket today: https://t.co/L5KEvF9ly1 pic.twitter.com/pk2elXIKP4

— ESPN (@espn) March 16, 2025

The 12-5 matchup remains one of the most intriguing among NCAA tournament draws on a yearly basis. 55 times a 12-seed has upset the 5 seed since 1985. The 35.26 winning percentage makes that matchup one of the most intently studied by bettors and prognosticators.

Ben Johnson has been on the hot seat for months. Beyond a desire to ignore NIL initiatives, he compiled a terrible 56-71 record as the Minnesota Gophers head coach. It sounds like Colorado State’s Niko Medved could be the next hire, but first he has to deal with Memphis in the NCAA tournament.

What are Colorado State’s chances in round one?

Anfernee Hardaway has a 161-67 career record at Memphis. This will be his third NCAA tournament appearance with the Tigers, who peaked at No. 14 in the AP poll this season and won the American Athletic Conference regular season title.

You can’t call the Colorado State Rams an upset pick next week, when FanDuel Sportsbook has Niko Medved & Co. listed as 2.5 point favorites over the Memphis Tigers. Should they advance, they could very well play 4-seed Maryland, out of the Big Ten, in the round of 32. Matching up with the terrapins would give Medved an early look at life in his new conference.

Related: Sounds Like Mark Coyle Has Found the Next Gophers Men’s Basketball Coach

The Minnesota Gophers need a serious jolt of excitement for the program. Hiring someone like Medved, who could come in off a tourney run, would certainly accomplish that. The 26-7 overall New Mexico Lobos made the tournament as the regular season winners of the Mountain West Conference. They are led by former Golden Gophers head coach, Richard Pitino.

When the regular season ends, the top eight teams will receive first round byes, the top four teams will be awarded a double bye. With his back up against the wall and his job on the line, Ben has responded with one of the most talented basketball teams that the University has put on the floor in recent history.

The Gophers are currently 17-9 (8-7) and ranked 72nd in the NET. If they finish with 10 conference wins or more, it will be just the third time that’s happened at Minnesota since before the turn of the century (2016-17, 2004-05).

After a win at The Barn on Thursday night vs former Gopher Jamison Battle and the Ohio State Buckeyes, Minnesota is knocking on the door into NCAA Tournament conversations, but most bracketologists still refuse to acknowledge their existence.

Minnesota picked up its 17th win of the season tonight. Gophers only won nine a year ago. If Ben Johnson can retain the majority of his roster, the NCAA Tournament should be the goal in 2025.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 23, 2024

Why? Because of their #72 NET Ranking. Head coach Ben Johnson wanted to build confidence in a team that desperately needed to see some W’s pile up early on. It worked, in a sense, but it also hurt in today’s college basketball, which is ruled by NET rankings.

What are the NET Rankings and why do they matter?

Sure, there is still a committee that holds final say on who goes dancing on Selection Sunday, but it’s the NET Rankings that they are instructed to hold most valuable. Here’s how the NET Rankings work and how they are weighted. The first bullet point explains Minnesota’s low ranking, despite a chance at making history as a program:

• Beating bad teams won’t really help you, but losing to them will destroy you
• Road wins are more valuable than home wins
• Offensive & Defensive Efficiencies matter too, along with margin of victory

Quad System: In the NET Rankings system, the entire country is broken down into four different tiers or “quads”, but a team’s quad can be different, depending on where the game is played. Beat a top-30 team, it’s a Quad 1 win no matter the location. On the road, however, any opponent with a top-75 NET Ranking becomes Quad 1.

Related: Gophers Cam Christie Earns Big Ten Freshman of the Week Honors

The Gophers are 1-5 vs Quad 1 opponents this season and have three such games left. All of them are on the road: @ Nebraska, @ Illinois and @ Northwestern. The Gophers have already beaten Nebraska and Northwestern at home. Both wins were Quad 2, because the games were played at Williams Arena (where only top-30 counts as Q1).

Beating Iowa in Iowa City would have counted as Quad 1, which is why blowing that massive 19-point 2nd half lead hurt the Gophers March Madness chances so badly. Ben Johnson and his boys have handled all quad 4 games and don’t have any remaining. The Gophers’ only Quad 3 loss came vs Indiana, on the road. They get that rematch on March 6.

Minnesota Remaining Opponent Quads

How can the Minnesota Gophers get into the NCAA Tournament?

So, the question arises: how do the Minnesota Gophers secure a spot on the tourney dance floor next month? The easy answer is to win the Big Ten Tournament. Since that has never happened in the program’s history, it’s probably not a route we should count on, though.

Luckily, if the Gophers handle their business the rest of the regular season, they’ll be in the final field of 68, no matter what Jon Rothstein thinks. What will that take? Again, their NET Ranking Friday morning is #72. To safely secure an at-large bid, they need to get to #60. If they can rise to #65~ish, Selection Sunday will be a sweat

Related: Iowa Wolves Sign Former Gophers Guard and DeLaSalle Grad Gabe Kalscheur

This five-game stretch to close the season will decide their fate, and there isn’t a lot of room for error. But really, the most important game is Sunday. Lose @ #43 Nebraska and it’ll be an uphill battle the rest of the way. But get a win in Lincoln and the Gophers will add their second Q1 victory of the season and impossible for bracketologists to ignore.

At that point, it would be more about not screwing things up. Stay close vs Illinois and Northwestern, DO NOT lose at home vs struggling Penn State or Indiana and it’d be hard to keep the Gophers out. Throw in a Big Ten Tourney win or maybe an upset in Northwestern to close the regular season, and they’ll probably be a lock.

If the Gophers win three of their final five games, they’ll reach 12 conference wins for the first time since 1996-97, which doesn’t officially count. So officially, it would be the first time since 1981-82.

Betting on the NCAA basketball competition is also big business, and it is one of the busiest times on the sports calendar for bookmakers, who pull out all the stops to offer deals such as the popular FanDuel March Madness promo.

It is also extremely difficult to win the tournament. Only 15 colleges have won it more than once. So far this century, only Florida has won back-to-back titles. So, what makes it so difficult for teams to win this famous tournament and earn the crown of the best college team in men’s basketball?

Ultra-competitive

The tournament is one of the most competitive in US sports. First a college needs to earn its place in the March Madness competition, and only 68 of the 350 college basketball programs will be able to do that. In the tournament itself, the level of competition is incredibly high.

All teams must win six straight games against some of the best college basketball teams in the country to win the championship. These teams feature players who have been recruited from all over the world and many boast All-American caliber players and future NBA stars.

High pressure

Teams, fans and alumni all have high expectations for their team’s performance in the tournament. The pressure to live up to these expectations can be intense for players and coaches, especially if the team is a top seed or has a deep run in the tournament, and if the team’s supporters and officials have high expectations or a strong tradition of success, that pressure is intense.

While March Madness can be the launchpad for an NBA career, it also brings national and even global attention to relatively young athletes, in some cases, for the first time in their lives. Learning how to deal with that pressure can take time.

The unpredictability of March Madness

Unlike many other sports in the US, the NCAA tournament is known for its upsets and Cinderella stories, which explains the appeal for basketball fans who fill in their ‘brackets’ each spring, attempting the near impossible task of predicting every game.

The tournament uses a single-elimination format, meaning that a team only gets one chance to advance. This adds an extra layer of tension and unpredictability to each game, as a loss ends a team’s season, while a win keeps their championship hopes alive. A lower seed can beat a higher seed in any given game, making it difficult to predict the outcome of any given match-up.

This unpredictability is enhanced by the short turnaround of the competition. The tournament is held over three weeks, which means that teams must play multiple games in a short period of time and maintaining consistency from one game to the next presents a challenge.

The endurance factor

The NCAA tournament is often referred to as a marathon, not a sprint, and for good reason. Teams must play six games in three weeks, often with just one day of rest in between. The physical and mental toll of the tournament can be overwhelming for players.

Injuries can play a significant role in this tournament. While some teams are clearly stronger than others, it is rare for a college basketball program to have the same depth as you would expect from an NBA team, and that makes the star players on a team even more important.

One player’s absence can change the outcome of a game, and not every player has the physical constitution to withstand the tournament’s demands. The unpredictability of injuries can make it difficult to predict the outcome of a match-up, especially in close games. This makes the entire tournament reliant on endurance and stamina just as much as athletic skill.

Summary

Winning the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is a formidable task that requires a combination of talent, preparation and luck. With the level of competition, pressure, unpredictability, short turnaround and fatigue that come with this event, it’s no surprise that winning a national championship in college basketball is considered one of the greatest achievements in sports.

It’s March Madness and the Minnesota Gophers are done for the season. That sucks for a lot of reasons but it doesn’t mean we need to sulk in our maroon and gold depression while everyone else enjoys the dance. Beyond your office bracket pools and the millions of dollars being wagered this weekend, Gopher basketball fans are on the watch for their next men’s head basketball coach.

Lucky for us, most of the rumored candidates are coaching their current team in the NCAA Tournament this weekend. It’s a perfect time for Gopher fans to scout out their favorite possible replacement, as the competition heats up. There has been Minnesota steam behind all of these candidates. We’ll start with the best-seeded teams and move down.

Eric Musselman | Arkansas: 3-seed | vs Colgate (14) – 11:45 AM Friday

If I could have my pick of any rumored to be available head coach in the country, it would be Eric Musselman. This is a guy who wins everywhere he goes and his tenure at Arkansas has been no different. But this matchup vs Colgate, which is the second game of the day today, might be my favorite of the entire first round. The Colgate Raiders have only played 15 games this season and they have won all but one of them.

TeamRankings.com only has Arkansas winning 51% of the time when they run simulations and Colgate is actually my Cinderella team of the tournament. Read more on Musselman HERE.

Can’t wait for the Arkansas vs Colgate game at 11:45. Toothpaste U is my 2021 Cinderella but they have to get past Muss first…

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) March 19, 2021

Mike Boynton | Oklahoma State: 4-seed | vs Liberty (13) – 5:25 PM Friday

Mike Boynton’s name came out of nowhere to enter the Minnesota head coach candidate rumors. We’re talking about the dude who landed Cade Cunningham, who will be the 1st pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. I first saw Boynton mentioned as a possibility for Minnesota in an article out of The Athletic last week. And the deeper you look into Mike and his current situation, the more sense a move makes.

Oklahoma State is lucky to be competing in this tournament. They’ve been waiting all season long for discipline to be handed down by the NCAA for past recruiting violations. The process is sitting in appeals right now and that’s why OSU can compete in 2021. But 2022 will be a different story. And that’s why most expect Boynton to bounce after this season, along with Cade Cunningham.

Brian Dutcher | San Diego State: 6-seed | vs Syracuse (11) – 8:40 PM Friday

Everyone knows the story on Dutcher. If you want more, read HERE. Brian Dutcher is one of many Mountain West candidates whose name has floated around the Minnesota job. His dad, Jim Dutcher, had a decade-long stretch of success as Gopher head coach back in the 70’s and 80’s. Brian’s special Minnesota buyout of $1 million specifically written into his SDSU contract, compared to the $6+ million any other school would have to pay, shows his interest. The Gophers have always been Dutcher’s dream job and a lot of his family, including his aging father, are still in the Twin Cities.

But first, Dutcher is concerned with beating Jim Boeheim and the Syracuse Orangemen. San Diego is the higher seed in this game but they are only favored by three points.

Porter Moser | Loyola Chicago – 8-seed | vs Georgia Tech – 3:00 PM Friday

Porter Moser isn’t someone I have looked that deeply into but he is the favorite for others. Not only is he gettable, coaching at a mid-major school like Loyola Chicago, but he took that mid-major school to a Final Fucking Four in 2018. Think about that.

Moser’s squad in Chicago is 97-35 in their last four seasons and he will have his choice in a lot of Power-5 jobs should he want one. Georgia Tech came out of nowhere and won the ACC Tournament (after Duke dropped out). They’re hot but one of the most susceptible 9-seeds in the tournament.

Craig Smith | Utah State: 11-seed | vs Texas Tech (6) – 12:45 PM Friday

Another Mountain West coach with Minnesota ties, Craig Smith is a likeable and energetic guy that Minnesota fans would completely fall in love with. Read more on him HERE. Many have Smith as the favorite to land Pitino’s old job and if Coyle is looking for a dynamite hire at a bargain bin cost, Craig could very-well be the next head coach at the University of Minnesota. That would make for a lot of bald heads at the University of Minnesota Athletic Department.

Minnesota born Craig Smith, the Head Coach of Utah State, has his team dancing once again, this time as an 11 seed. The Aggies will face 6 seed Texas Tech. pic.twitter.com/A0Hb098mhz

— Ryan James (@RyanJamesMN) March 14, 2021

Because they won the Mountain West Tournament in 2020 before everything was canceled by COVID-19, Smith has now qualified Utah State for the NCAA Tournament three times in three years. His record during that tenure is 74-23. Craig and his Aggies will have their hands full with Texas Tech today, however. Utah State is a 4-point underdog.

Dennis Gates | Cleveland State – 15-seed | vs Houston (2) – 6:15 PM Friday

Enjoy Dennis Gates while you can today. This game isn’t expected to be close. Houston is favored over Gates’ Cleveland State squad, by 20+ points. If the Vikings were to pull of an upset of this caliber, Dennis Gates’ stock would immediately skyrocket.

Gates, however, is only in his second year as a college head coach and that’s probably not the route Coyle wants to go (again) with this hire. But, after only winning 11 games all of last season, he turned the Cleveland State program around, went 19-7 in 2021 during a pandemic, and made the NCAA Tournament. That’s certainly worth something.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team has built quite the 2021 NCAA Tournament resume so far this season. They stand at 13-7 (6-7), play in the nation’s best conference and have a plethora of top-25 victories already stacked up.

But because Pitino’s squad is yet to win any games on the road (0-6), they remain an NCAA Tournament bubble team that is struggling to climb up the NET Rankings, which puts heavy emphasis on road wins.

According to TeamRankings.com, Minnesota will need to secure THREE more victories (16 total) to have any shot at qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. If they get FOUR more (17 total), they’ll all but clinch it.

Just SIX games remain on the regular season schedule, unless the Big Ten is able to reschedule their canceled game @ Nebraska.

According to @TeamRankings, #Gophers MBB needs THREE more wins to likely clinch a tourney spot (67.7%) and FOUR more to all but guarantee one (97.4%). pic.twitter.com/SsHiJLgwms

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 13, 2021

As of Saturday, TeamRankings.com gives the Gophers an 80% chance of dancing this March. Their most likely seed is #9 (12.1%).

Remaining Schedule

Minnesota will probably have to break their winless streak on the road, where their easiest matchups remain (on paper), if they are going to dance in March. They have only three remaining home games and two will be played against ranked opponents (#6 Illinois, #25 Rutgers).

Sunday @ Maryland

The Minnesota Gophers will have another shot to end their road losing streak on Sunday, when they head to the nation’s capitol to play the Maryland Terrapins. Maryland is a quality team and considered “quad 1” by the NET Rankings.

A win @ College Park would catapult the Gophers up the NET Rankings, where they currently sit 50th in the nation, and back into all NCAA Tournament conversations. Lose… and their dancing window will look that much tighter.

Remember, the Fighting Pitino’s (13-7) need 16 wins to have a chance and 17 wins to go ahead and order their dancing shoes. Only SIX games remain on the schedule (with a possibility of adding a seventh vs Nebraska).

If they can’t secure a bid before that, then they’ll rely on win or go home victories in the Big Ten Tournament. Let’s hope for my sanity that it doesn’t come to that.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The 68-team NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, or “March Madness” as most normal people call it, will now be held at one singular location in 2021. It’s looking like Indianapolis, according to Jeff Goodman (Stadium).

NCAA relocating 2021 Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Sites: https://t.co/ietxNuODHi pic.twitter.com/P0uTXq2O1j

— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) November 16, 2020

NCAA announces it will have ALL the rounds of the NCAA Tournament in one spot, likely Indianapolis, this season.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 16, 2020

US Bank Stadium was supposed to host the 2021 Midwest Regional Bracket but that will not be the case anymore.

This is a smart thing for the NCAA to do. They need to make sure they do whatever they can to make March Madness happen. The money lost because of cancelling 2020’s tournament cannot afford to be repeated.

This likely turns into a bubble scenario because that’s what makes the most sense. Hopefully we’ll be coming out of this whole thing by March but the NCAA can’t gamble on that risk. Everyone is learning from a distance anyway so a bubble shouldn’t be nearly as difficult as it normally would be.

Fan Bubble

If the NCAA was smart they would also start collecting money from fans who want to pay to be a part of a March Madness “fan bubble”, where fans can be sequestered in Indianapolis (or wherever this is held), separate from the players and coaches, so they can be a part of the activities too.

The NCAA Tournament won’t be the same without fans and the league would be heralded by the sports world if they are the first to return people to stadium seats safely. You can guarantee there are fans itching out there who would pay premium dollar to be a part of something like this.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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EPISODE 47 SUMMARY

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In episode 47, Brandon and Eric dive deep into the Minnesota Twins optimism now that we have a series win over Cleveland under our belts.

It’s not all positive though, as the NCAA Tournament is evil and we discuss whether it’s worth watching the tournament next year or worth spending time at US Bank stadium/downtown for this year’s Final Four.

We recap the Gopher Basketball season as JellyFam looks to transfer away.

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Episode Chapters

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First, let’s get this out of the way. I’m not going to sit here and complain about the terrible job that the NCAA Tournament committee did on seeding the Big Ten teams in this tournament. As I type, the Maryland Terrapins are in a barn burner with LSU (they ended up losing on a buzzer-beater). If they win, they will be playing another Big Ten team next round in either Michigan State or Minnesota… for those two teams, it’d be the 2nd straight Big Ten team they would face (out of 3 tourney games)… That’s without even mentioning the 6 of 7 wins the Big Ten pulled out of the first round of games… but I’m not going to complain about any of that.

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Everybody wins except for Wisconsin! Rd 1 couldn’t have gone ANY better! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/ZTiV3kEGvf

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) March 22, 2019

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What I am going to do, is hype up my Minnesota Gophers. We are 5 hours from tip and I spent 3 of my hours this morning making the trip from Eagan to Little Falls to hang out with family during the game (and I needed someone to watch my kid). In between pull-over stops with my son, I was able to convince myself that the Golden Gophers have a real chance of winning this game tonight vs Michigan State.

First, we need to remember that this isn’t the same Gopher team we saw for a lot of the season. Since losing to Rutgers in late-February, the Gophers have gone 5-2 with wins vs a tier-1 Penn State team, 2 wins over a top-15 Purdue team, and an NCAA Tournament win over Louisville.

Michigan State is going through a lot of controversy right now, after an overblown sideline tirade by Tom Izzo, and didn’t play well in round one. The Gophers on the other hand, are playing the best basketball of their season, by far.

The key to this game might again be Gabe Kalscheur. If the Gophers hit 10+ threes like they did in round 1 (11), it’s going to be tough to beat us. Our defense is just too good. If we are going to rain those tre’s then we all know most will have to come from the sharp-shooting Freshman.

But, he will have to bring that offensive game while playing an even more important role defensively. Stopping Cassius Winston will be priority number one for Pitino’s squad on defense. I’d imagine Gabe will be the guy tasked with stopping him. If Kalscheur can contain Winston and still bring a top-3 scoring role on offense, we will be Sweet 16-bound…

I’m starting to sweat.

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via GIPHY

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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After a season of ups and downs that resembled some of the best roller coasters on the planet, Richard Pitino and the Gophers got the ultimate vindication when they dominated the Louisville Cardinals in the first round of the NCAA Tournament this afternoon.

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The success started where it always does and that’s Amir Coffey and Jordan Murphy. Amir Coffey was aggressive from the tip and it allowed Murphy to dominate from 15 feet and in, not to mention the offensive and defensive glass. Speaking of defense, the Gophers slapped Louisville in the face with their Big Ten-style defense. I don’t know how much of that Louisville had seen throughout the season because they looked stifled by it.

However, the story of the game was the Freshman, Gabe Kalscheur, who went off for 24 points and 5 3-pointers, many of which came early in the second half when the Gophers pulled away. Gabe might have to look twice when he sees who was talking about him while he was dropping heat…

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Gabe Kalscheur caught fire with 24pts for @GopherMBB! ???#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/qei63QHlxv

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2019

Dude from Minnesota KILLINNNNN?

— Trae Young (@TheTraeYoung) March 21, 2019

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GAME / POSTGAME / SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS

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The reaction in Des Moines as thousands of fans celebrate the #Gophers first NCAA Tournament win since 2013. pic.twitter.com/ircJXlre5K

— Daniel House (@DanielHouseNFL) March 21, 2019

Fun win, fun postgame locker room. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/kv7uNRQP3f

— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) March 21, 2019

.@InPree_WeTrust with the honors. pic.twitter.com/56tnsaGz8K

— Minnesota Men's Basketball (@GopherMBB) March 21, 2019

Hear from @gophermbb after advancing past @louisvillembb in the First Round | #MarchMadness https://t.co/RPMOo3baIk

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 21, 2019

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Richard Pitino just had his greatest moment as a college head coach against the program where he and his father both once went to a Final Four.

Minnesota to the Round of 32.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 21, 2019

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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EPISODE 46 SUMMARY

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In episode 46, we get ready for the NCAA Tournament by doing the NCAA a favor and round-tabling how to fix the “non-profit” organization with Brandon’s old friend, David Queck who drops all sorts of knowledge. After some calm discussion, we think we may have fixed it.

After fixing the NCAA with Queck, Brandon and I discuss the upcoming tournament for the Gophers. Can they win a game in the dance? Can the beat Louisville? Does it matter? Then, we have a calm discussion about Richard Pitino and why Brandon is a dumbass for wanting him fired still.

We can’t get through an episode without talking about the Vikings and with the NFL offseason burning wild, there’s plenty to talk about… well.. plenty to talk about on the offensive line…

After a long episode, we make 10 minutes for the Twins because they have us so jacked up for this summer. Sure, they could use another pitcher but this team is hitting so many bombs it might not matter…

Eddie Rosario for MVP!

ANNOUNCEMENT: Stay on the lookout today for the Minnesota Sports Fan NCAA Bracket Challenge! It’s sponsored by our friends over at Pro Image Sports in the Mall of America! You’ll have a chance to win $100 gift cards NEW Minnesota Sports Fan T-Shirts!

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Episode Chapters

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