Minnesota

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Big Ten Conference (21-13, 9-9)

Seed: #11

It's the worry of nearly every team on the bubble this time of the year: the bid thief. The team that had little or no chance of getting into the NCAA Tournament makes a run in its conference tournament, grabbing the automatic bid and possibly snatching a chair at the table from another team in college basketball's answer to "musical chairs". Houston (Conference USA) and New Mexico State (WAC) were the two teams to do that on Saturday, and the question now is which at-large candidates will be headed to the NIT as a result of these outcomes. 

With four clear-cut big-dancers, the Big Ten oozes front-end quality.  But with lower-seeded teams providing late season scares to perennial powers – see Michigan State barely escaping Penn State in East Lansing last week - look for some drama to unfold this Thursday thru Sunday in Indianapolis.

In the latest installement of his interview series CHN's Jon Teitel interviewed Mychal Thompson, who is widely regarded as one of the best players in the history of the University of Minnesota program. Thompson also won a pair of NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

Jon Teitel: You were born in the Bahamas, moved to Miami during high school, and decided to attend college at Minnesota. How did you first get into the sport of basketball while everyone around you was playing soccer, and how did you survive the move north for college?