Minnesota is moving up in some sports and dropping in others…
It’s time for our weekly look at the Rankings Roundup. We are one week closer to the completion of the regular season in basketball and hockey, and we have our first Big Ten Championship of the winter season kicking off in the pool. Here is where the Minnesota golden Gophers sit both in the conference and the national rankings as of February 19th.
Men’s Hockey:
The Gopher men’s hockey team did not have the weekend they would have preferred at Michigan last weekend. Minnesota took just two of a possible six points from the Wolverines losing in overtime on Friday and forcing a tie on Saturday and then losing in the shootout….again. Thus headed into the final four games of the Big Ten regular season Minnesota sits in a tie for second place in the conference with 40 points, three back of first place Michigan State. Awaiting the Gophers this week is a HUGE series at home against the Ohio State Buckeyes—who are tied with the Gophers with 40 points. This weekend may go a long way into trying to determine how the top three seeds will break down.
Minnesota will host the Buckeyes for two before heading to one of the hottest teams in the nation and conference in Penn State to close out the regular season. The Buckeyes will host Michigan to close out the regular season. First place Michigan State has the easiest schedule remaining as they host Penn State this weekend before heading to last place Notre Dame the final weekend.
After their poor weekend in Ann Arbor, the Gophers dropped in the national polls this week. Minnesota is down to #5 in both the USCHO.com and the USA Hockey polls behind Boston College, Michigan State, Western Michigan and Maine.
The pairwise rankings are the rankings that are used to fill out the NCAA Tournament field. Sixteen teams make the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament with each conference tournament winner receiving an automatic bid. Thus, you want to make sure you rank #13 or higher to really feel same about making the tournament. Minnesota still remains at #3 in the pairwise after last weekend, though the gap between #2 Michigan State and Minnesota has grown significantly, and the gap between the Gophers at #3 and Main3 at #4 has shrunk considerably.
Women’s Hockey:
Minnesota comes into the final weekend of the regular season off of a split with St. Cloud State. Both teams won on the road in the home and home series with the Huskies winning 4-3 in Minneapolis Friday an the Gophers picking u a 2-1 in St. Cloud Saturday. With two games remining in the regular season the Gophers can finish anywhere between second and fourth depending on this weekend’s games. Minnesota currently is in third place with 51 points, two back of #2 Ohio State and three ahead of #4 Minnesota-Duluth. The Gophers host the Bulldogs for the final series of the regular season this weekend. Ohio State will host St. Cloud State. The Gophers need at least two points this weekend to lock in the third spot, and will need some help from the Huskies to have a chance to leap over Ohio State into second place.
All of Minnesota, Ohio State and UMD have locked down home ice for the first round of the WCHA Playoffs next weekend. The #4 seed will host #5 St. Cloud State while St. Thomas and Minnesota State will play this weekend in a series that will determine the #6 and #7 seeds. #8 Bemidji State is headed to #1 Wisconsin.
In both national polls, the USCHO.com and USA Hockey Poll, the Gophers slipped afte their split with St. Cloud last weekend to #4 in the nation behind Wisconsin, Ohio State and ECAC Regular Season Champion Cornell.
It’s the same in the women’s pairwise rankings with the Gophers dropping to #4 behind the same three teams. In the Women’s NCAA Tournament 11 teams make the field with five conference champions earning automatic bids. Thus, to feel comfortable, you want to make sure you are in the top 8 or so at the end of the season. The Top four seeds will host NCAA Quarterfinals, so it’s definitely a plus to be in that spot. Especially for the Gophers if they can stay as the NCAA Frozen Four will be at Ridder Arena this season. If the season ended today the Gophers would host a quarterfinal against the #5 seed which could be Colgate.
Men’s Basketball:
What a difference a weekend can make. The Minnesota Gophers shocked just about everyone going 2-0 on their California road trip knocking off USC on Saturday and UCLA Tuesday night. Minnesota is now 6-9 in the Big Ten and is in a tie for 12th place in the conference with Indiana. The top 9 seeds in the Big Ten tournament receive a first round bye, so trying to sneak up there would be huge for the Gophers. Minnesota is only a game back to the #9 spot, and their schedule is favorable down the stretch. Minnesota has five games remaining in the regular season and three are against teams lower then them in the conference standings. Minnesota hosts last place Penn State on Saturday and 17th place Northwestern next Tuesday before heading to Nebraska. The Gophers will close out the regular season at home against Wisconsin and at Rutgers. If the Gophers can go at least 3-2 down the stretch, it might be enough to sneak into that #9 spot.
Minnesota is obviously not ranked in ant of the national polls.
In the NET rankings which helps the NCAA selection Committee form the NCAA Tournament field, as of Tuesday afternoon the Gophers moved up to 89 after their upset win at UCLA. They are 17th in the Big Ten with just Washington lower.
Women’s Basketball:
The Minnesota Gophers women’s basketball team bounced back from a painful loss last Sunday to Oregon to knock off Purdue Wednesday night 74-61. That win pushes the Gophers back to .500 in the Big Ten standings at 8-8 in conference play. Minnesota still sits at #12 in the Big Ten with two games remaining in the regular season. The schedule is in Minnesota’s favor if it can pick up a pair of big wins. The three teams immediately ahead of the Gophers in the battle for the #9 spot and the last opening round bye—Indiana, Nebraska, and Iowa all have at least game against a team in the top three in the conference remaining. Minnesota hosts 5-9 Washington before a huge game at 9-5 Michigan State,
Minnesota has dropped out of both national polls and are no longer receiving votes.
In the NET rankings, the Gophers currently sit at #33 in the nation prior to their win over Purdue being calculated in. Minnesota is squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but with at least one more regular season win and one in the Big Ten Tournament, the Gophers should hopefully be dancing.
Wrestling:
The Gopher wrestling team closed out their regular season last Friday with a 23-11 loss to #3 Iowa at the Pav. The Gophers are not back in action until the Big Ten Tournament March 8-9 in Evanston, Illinois
Minnesota as a team is ranked #6 in the nation in the NWCA coaches poll. Thats also where FloWrestling has them in their national dual rankings.
Minnesota has all 10 wrestlers ranked in both the WrestleStat and Flo Wrestling individual weight class rankings. They are listed below with WrestleStat first.
125 lbs: Cooper Flynn #20/16
133 lbs: Tyler Wells #26/11
141 lbs: Vance Vombaur #6/8
149 lbs: Drew Roberts #32/25
157 lbs Tommy Askey #9/9
165 lbs Andrew Sparks #8/15
174 lbs Clayton Whiting #26/21
184 lbs Max McEnelly #4/4
197 lbs Isaiah Salazar #10/9
Heavyweight Gable Steveson #3/1
Gymnastics:
The Gophers gymnastics bounced back with a win at #20 Ohio State 197.375-195.800 . The win pushes their record to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten. Minnesota remains in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with Michigan and Michigan State behind 5-0 UCLA.
The Gophers moved up to #13 in the nation in the Road to Nationals rankings after their best score of the season against the Buckeyes. The Gophers jumped up in all four events as well from rank #15 to #8 on vault, from #23 to #20 on bars, from #13 to #11 on beam and from #19 to #10 on floor so far this season.
Swim and Dive:
This week sees the Gopher women at the Big Ten Championships help in Columbus, Ohio by Ohio State. The Gopher men will host the Men’s Big Ten Championships next week.
In the most recent national polls from the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) both Gopher teams sit at #24 in the nation.
Indoor Track and Field:
The Gopher women indoor track and field team dropped several spots this week and now sit at #46 in the national rankings as a team as several other schools had fantastic performances rising them up the rankings.
The Gopher are ranked in the top 20 of the nation in five different events in the USTFCCCA Event Squad rankings. Minnesota is ranked #4 in the nation in the weight throw, #6 in the 60 meter hurdles, #9 in the 5000 meters, #12 in the high jump and #19 in the shot put.
Individually the Gophers have four athletes or squads ranked in the Top 20 in their individual events so far this season. Anthonett Nabwe leads the way for the Gophers. The defending Big Ten weight throw champion ranks 4th in the nation this season with a throw of 23.21 meters. She also has the 19th best shot put throw in the country this spring with a distance of 17.23 meters. Joining Nabwe in the weight throw rankings is redshirt sophomore Hadley Streit who is now ranked 13th with a throw of 22.12m. The Gopher distance medley relay team ranks #15 in the country with a time of 11:09:65.
Women’s Golf:
The Gopher women’s golf team comes in at #50 in the country in the latest Scorecard national rankings. Individually Gopher junior Bella McCauley is ranked #39 in the nation as an individual.