And now things get serious. After struggling to lose at home against Indiana on Tuesday night (that had to be the Gophers' goal, right?) the Gophers travel to Penn State for a Saturday afternoon that is much more than just a typical game between middle of the road Big Ten teams. Last season the only implication of a match-up between the fifth and sixth best teams in the Big Ten would have been on seeding in the NIT. A year later it could go along way towards determining a trip to the NCAA tournament.
Despite their poor play of late, the Gophers are not yet in bubble trouble. Their win over Louisville more than made up for a weak non-conference schedule and wins over Ohio State, Illinois, and Wisconsin did enough to show that that Louisville win was not just a fluke. Penn State on the other hand is in real bubble trouble. Penn State's non-conference schedule makes Minnesota's parade of cup cakes look like the upper division of the Big East, leaving the Nittany Lions little room for error during the conference season. Until two weeks ago Penn State hadn't made many errors. They were 6-3 in the conference with wins over Purdue and Michigan State, and were the surprising team in the conference. That success came at a cost though, in the form of extended minutes by their key players. Talor Battle, Jamelle Cornley, and Stanley Pringle all average more than 30 minutes per game. In comparison, Al Nolen leads the Gophers with almost 28 minutes per game. Obviously quality players like Penn State's "Big Three" will play more than non-stars, which make up Minnesota's entire, but no team in the country seems to be in as much danger of running out of gas as Penn State. Only twelve players in the country have played more minutes than Battle, and Cornley ranks in the top 100.
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