Okay ... now 7 of the last 10 Minnesota has lost. No business being in the NCAA Tournament. None. The only reason they probably will be invited is simply because they play in the Big Ten and it overly (and wrongly) inflated their RPI.
Yeah. 20-12, 8-11. Losers of 7 of 10. Last 1/2 of the season they are 5-11.
Lost last 3. 1 of which to a bad team. 1 to a very mediocre team. And 1 to a mediocre+ team...borderline good but inconsistent.
But...compare to Lunardi's "first 4 out"
Boise. 4th place (9-7) in the mountain west. Which, according to realtimeRPI, is the #1 conference. So the 4th place team (with a winning record in conference and no "el foldo" down the stretch shouldn't get in over the failure that is Minnesota?
Middle Tennessee. RPI of 29. Won their conference. 29-5. 1 bad loss prior to the conf. tourney semis. Winners of 17 in a row prior to the last game.
Baylor. Outside of a recent win against KU they've had an entirely mediocre year. I have no issue with Minn beating them out.
Mississippi. 2nd place in SEC. 12-6 in conference. 23-8 overall. No real great wins. They did lose to 3 of the 4 bottom SEC teams. Coin toss with Minn IMO...edge IMO is to the team that wins 2/3 of their conference games though v. a team that is well under .500.
Minn is ONLY in because the Big 10 boosts their RPI significantly. 24...according to realtimerpi before today. Now, I don't know how much the committee uses RPI. I think they use it when it's convenient for them to justify "iffy" pics like Minn. A few years back Missouri St. got left out with an RPI in the low 20s...the best RPI ever left out.