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Bubble Banter: Can Minnesota avoid playing their way out of the tourney?

Malik Smith, Alex Olah

Minnesota guard Malik Smith (30) and Northwestern center Alex Olah, right, vie for a rebound during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Minneapolis, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)

AP

There are 30 days left until Selection Sunday. Every morning from now until the bracket comes out, we’ll help you get caught up on the happenings with impact on the bubble from the night before.

You can see NBCSports.com’s latest bracket here.

Minnesota (RPI: 39, KenPom: 39) lost to No. 21 Wisconsin on Thursday night.

The game was played at Wisconsin, and anyone that knows anything about the Kohl Center can tell you that it’s one of the toughest arenas to win in, regardless of what the Badgers’ record is in the building this season.

So losing to Wisconsin at Wisconsin is hardly the kind of loss that is going to hurt Minnesota’s at-large profile.

But all of a sudden, we’re looking at a team that could very well end up below .500 in conference play. They’ve lost four of their last five and five of their last seven games, including a three-game losing streak to Nebraska, Northwestern and Purdue. The Gophers do have a couple of good wins -- Wisconsin, Ohio State, at Richmond -- and their strength of schedule is top five nationally, so they are in pretty good shape.

But here’s the catch: three of their six games remaining are against some of the best teams in the league. They’re at Ohio State, they’ve got Iowa at home and they visit Michigan. With the Florida State and Indiana wins looking less impressive by the day, the Gophers are in a spot where they could end up needing to finish the regular season 4-2 to feel good about their standing heading into the Big Ten tournament.

THE REST OF WEDNESDAY’S BUBBLE ACTION

  • BYU (RPI: 45, KenPom: 53) lost at Pacific on Thursday, their fifth loss to a team with an RPI outside the top 100. That’s ... not good. At all. The win at Stanford and over Texas on a neutral court will keep them in the conversation, but losses to Iowa State and at Oregon by a combined six points hurt.
  • Arkansas (RPI: 69, KenPom: 56) is all but out of the at-large picture at this point after they lost to Missouri on Thursday night. They have just six top 150 wins and can’t beat anyone away from Fayetteville. The win over Kentucky is the only thing keeping them relevant.
  • Missouri (RPI: 48, KenPom: 45) got the win that they needed. Rather, they avoided a loss they couldn’t afford. They might not be in the tournament if it started today, and they won’t play Kentucky or Florida unless they meet up in the SEC tournament. That’s a tough spot to be in.
  • Southern Miss (RPI: 36, KenPom: 43) The Golden Eagles have three top 100 wins with their best win coming at North Dakota State. That would have been tough to overcome before losing at UAB by 24 on Thursday.
  • St. John’s (RPI: 61, KenPom: 40) avoided what would have been a costly loss at Seton Hall thanks to a free throw from Chris Obekpa with 2.1 seconds left. The Johnnies have won seven of their last eight games. The win over Creighton looks great, but they might need to win at Villanova if they really want to make a case on Selection Sunday.

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