RandBall: Wednesday is a big moment for two Gophers basketball programs

The Gophers women’s and men’s basketball seasons have contained multiple narratives, but the main ones are these:

Could the women’s program, with improved talent and depth, break through for its first NCAA tournament berth since 2019?

Could the men’s program, decimated once again by offseason departures influenced by NIL money, fashion a good enough season to sustain confidence in head coach Ben Johnson?

Every game so far this season — 30 for the women, 29 for the men — has contributed to those narratives in some way.

But Wednesday has the potential to be a defining day for both narratives, and therefore both programs, as I talked about on Tuesday’s Daily Delivery podcast.

The women will face Washington in the No. 13 vs. No. 12 game of the Big Ten tournament. Those seeds belie the strength of the teams in a brutally competitive conference, which could send 13 teams to the NCAA tournament.

Or it could send 12. It is certainly possible that the loser of the game between two NCAA bubble teams will be left out, giving Wednesday’s meeting massive significance.

The men will host Wisconsin at Williams Arena. Johnson’s Gophers have had a strange season of extreme highs and lows. But there’s no doubt a win over the 12th-ranked Badgers would add fuel to the notion that Johnson deserves another season to keep trying to build his program.

What’s at stake for the Gophers women’s basketball program is more defined than that, of course.

In her second year as head coach, Dawn Plitzuweit has led the Gophers to a 20-10 record, including 8-10 in conference play.

Minnesota has defeated every team it should beat (18-0 against Quad 3 or Quad 4 teams, as defined by the NCAA Net Rankings) but struggled in opportunities for defining wins against equal or better opponents (2-10 against Quad 1 or Quad 2 teams).

That body of work has them No. 36 in the Net Rankings, and even a loss to Washington on Wednesday wouldn’t affect that standing very much.

But as Plitzuweit acknowledged this week, even while making the case that the Gophers deserve an NCAA bid, they would do well to make the committee’s decision easier.

“Our young ladies have competed and knocked off some decent teams and competed with the best teams,” she said. “Now, would it help us to get to work in the Big Ten tournament? Absolutely.”

For Johnson’s Gophers, the opportunity is less defined. A win over Wisconsin would be more for vibes than any realistic path to the NCAA tournament outside of an extremely deep run in the Big Ten tournament.

But the program’s momentum has changed enough times this season that a win over Wisconsin would feel significant. This is a team that started 0-6 in Big Ten play, then beat a bunch of good teams during a 6-3 stretch, only to falter against lesser opponents, followed by a nice win at Nebraska.

The Gophers have eight combined Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins, many of them in thrilling fashion. Their problem has been consistency.

And a win over Wisconsin on a defining day for all of Gophers basketball would be important.