We have officially reached March, and for a majority of the women’s NCAA basketball teams, Championship Week is here. The Power 5 conferences all play their conference tournaments this week before ceding the attention to the men’s tournament next week. A few of the smaller women’s conferences still play into next week, but for the Minnesota Golden Gophers seeding purposes, we should have a good handle by next Monday of what their situation may look like.
Current Bracketology:
As off Noon on Wednesday, the Gophers are in
a good spot. The NCAA Selection Committee on Sunday announced their Top 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament Field if the brackets would have been announced that day. Minnesota was ranked #15, or a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Why is being in the Top 16 so important? In the Women’s NCAA Tournament the top four seeds in each bracket get to host the first two rounds of the tournament. Thus if the Gophers remain a four seed or better, the first two games in the NCAA tournament would be held in Williams Arena. The last time the Gophers hosted in Williams Arena was the 2005 NCAA tournament where as a a #3 seed Minnesota used their home court advantage to defeat St. Francis and Virginia to advance to the Sweet Sixteen where they would lose to #2 seeded Baylor.
In the most recent national bracketology’s posted, the Gophers are shown similar respect. ESPN has the Gophers as a #4 seed hosting #13 seed UC Irvine in the opening round with #5 seeded Texas Tech facing #12 San Diego State as the other game in Minneapolis. USA Today has the exact same bracket. The IX Sports has 3/4 of the same bracket as ESPN but swaps in Kentucky as the #5 seed instead of Texas Tech. Her Hoop Stats as the Gophers as the #4 hosting #13 Colorado State with the other game being #5 Notre Dame against #12 Gonzaga. Finally CBSports has Minnesota as the #4 hosting #13 Louisiana Tech with #5 Notre Dame and #12 Georgia Southern completing the quad.
So What Are Minnesota’s Rooting Interests?
As you can see, all the major bracketology predictions followed the NCAA’s lead and have the Gophers on the #4 line. But it’s also a tenuous spot. With a loss in their first and only Big Ten Tournament game on Friday, the Gophers could potentially drop back to the #5 seed line and have to hit the road if someone else can step up. The other factor that will make things very interesting is that as of the last projection all of the #4 seeds were from the Big Ten with Maryland, Michigan State and Ohio State joining Minnesota. With all four teams in the top seven of the Big Ten, carnage will happen. In fact, all three teams other than the Gophers will need to play an extra game on Thursday to get to Friday. While all will be the higher seeded teams, upsets do happen, and a Thursday loss by one of the other three teams could definitely help Minnesota.
Of course there are also plenty of teams sitting on the #5 line or even the #6 line who could see themselves moving up with a big run in their conference tournaments. Also, there are some sitting on the #3 line who might fall back if they go one and done in their respective tournaments. So with mover a week and a half before the final brackets are revealed on Selection Sunday, there are still of plenty of moving parts.
Below we list out all the teams listed as a #3 seed through a #6 seed in the bracketology’s above and their schedule this week. For Minnesota to at minimum stay on the #4 line, you definitely want to be rooting against the other three Big Ten teams listed on the #4 line and the teams listed as a #5 looking for a chance to move up. If you want the Gophers to have any chance to move up to a #3, you will want to cheer for carnage on the #3 seed line, and hope the Gophers can make a run in the Big Ten Tournament. It might take an upset over #1 seed and likely NCAA #1 seed UCLA in the Big Ten semifinals to do that—but the possibility exists.
#3 Louisville
Louisville is the #2 seed in the ACC Tournament and opens play at 4 PM on Friday against the winner of the #10/#15 game and #7 Syracuse on ESPN2.
#3 Duke
Duke is the #1 seed in the ACC Tournament and opens play at 10 AM Friday against the Winner of #8 Virginia and #9 Clemson on ESPN2.
#3 TCU
TCU is the #1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will open play at 1:30 Friday against the winner of the #9/16 game and #8 Utah on ESPNU.
#3 Oklahoma
Oklahoma is the #5 seed in the SEC Tournament and begins play on Thursday against the winner of #12 Florida and #13 Mississippi State at 12:30 PM on SEC Network. If they win they advance to play #4 LSU at 1:30 Friday on ESPN.
#4 Maryland
Maryland is the #6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and faces the winner of Oregon and Purdue at roughly 8:00 PM Thursday night on BTN. If they win they advance to face #3 Michigan at the same time on Friday on BTN.
#4/5 Michigan State
The Spartans are being predicted as a #5 seed in a couple of the bracketology’s despite their NCAA Committee ranking. As the #7 seed in the Big Ten they open play Thursday against the winner of Wisconsin and Illinois at 5:30 PM on BTN. If they win they would face #2 Iowa at 5:30 Friday on BTN.
#4 Minnesota
The Gophers earned the #4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and the double bye into the Quarterfinals. They will face the winner of the 12/13 game winner against Ohio State at approximately 1:45 PM Friday on BTN.
#4 Ohio State
The Buckeyes earned the #5 Big Ten Tournament seed and open play Thursday against the winner of #12 Nebraska and #13 Indiana at approximately 1:45 Thursday on BTN.
#4/5 North Carolina
The Tar Heels are the other team that sneaks into the Top 16 teams instead of Michigan State in two of the predictions listed above. They are the #3 seed in the ACC Tournament and will open play on Friday evening at 6:30 PM on ACC Network against the winner of the 11/14 game winner and #6 Virginia Tech
#5 Kentucky
Kentucky was the first team on this list to see action as they were the #9 seed in the SEC Tournament and opened their postseason with a 94-64 win over #16 Arkansas on Wednesday morning. They will face #8 seed Georgia at 10 AM Thursday on SEC Network, and if they win have a date with #1 seed South Carolina at 10 AM Friday on ESPN.
#5 West Virginia
West Virginia is the #2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and opens play Friday at 5:30 on ESPN+ against the winner of the 10/15 game winner and #7 seed Iowa State.
#5/6 Notre Dame
Notre Dame is the #5 seed in the ACC Tournament and opens play on Thursday against #12 seed Miami who defeated Stanford in OT on Wednesday. That game will be at 12:30 PM on ACC Network.
#5/6 Texas Tech
The Red Raiders are the #5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and open play Thursday at 11:00 AM on ESPN+ against #12 Kansas State who defeated Cincinnati on Wednesday. #4 seed Oklahoma State awaits the winner on Friday morning.
#5/6 Baylor
Baylor is the #3 seed in the B1g 12 Tournament and opens play Friday at 8 PM on ESPN+ against the winner of the 11/14 game winner and #6 Colorado.
#6 Ole Miss
Ole miss is the #7 seed in the SEC Tournament and opens play Thursday at 5:00 PM on SEC network against the winner of #15 Auburn and #10 Texas A&M.
#6 Alabama
Alabama defeated the Gophers in November in the Bahamas and is the #11 seed in the SEC Tournament. They open play Wednesday night at 7:30 against #14 Missouri on SEC network. With a win they advance to face #6 Tennessee at 7:30 PM Thursday night.
#6 NC State
The Wolfpack are the #4 seed in the ACC Tournament and open play Friday at 1:30 PM on ACC Network against the winner of #12 Miami and #5 Notre Dame.
The schedule separated out by day is below and will be updated as games go final. Games in italics mean a team must win a previous game to play in it.
Wednesday:
#5 Kentucky 94-64 win over Arkansas
#6 Alabama vs Missouri 7:30 PM SEC Network
Thursday:
#5 Kentucky vs Georgia 10 AM SEC Network
#5/6 Texas Tech vs Kansas State 11 AM ESPN+
#3 Oklahoma vs Florida/Mississippi State 12:30 SEC Network
#5 Notre Dame vs Miami 12:30 PM ACC Network
#4 Ohio State vs Nebraska/ Indiana 1:45 PM BTN
#6 Ole Miss vs Auburn/ Texas A&M 5 PM SEC Network
#4/5 Michigan State vs Wisconsin/ Illinois 5:30 PM BTN
#6 Alabama vs Tennessee 7:30 PM SEC Network
#4 Maryland vs Oregon/ Purdue 8 PM BTN
Friday:
#3 Duke vs TBD 10 AM ESPN2
#5 Kentucky vs South Carolina 10 AM ESPN
#5 Texas Tech vs Oklahoma State 11 AM ESPN+
#3 TCU vs TBD 1:30 PM ESPNU
#3 Oklahoma vs LSU 1:30 PM ESPN
#5/6 Notre Dame vs #6 NC State 1:30 PM ACC Network
#4 Minnesota vs #4 Ohio State 145PM BTN
#3 Louisville vs TBD 4 PM ESPN2
#6 Ole Miss vs Vanderbilt 5 PM SEC Network
#4 Michigan State vs Iowa 5:30 PM BTN
#5 West Virginia vs TBD 5:30 PM ESPN+
#4/5 North Carolina vs TBD 6:30 PM ACC Network
#4 Maryland vs Michigan 8 PM BTN
#5/6 Baylor vs TBD 8 PM ESPN+
#6 Alabama vs Texas 7:30 PM SEC Network
Saturday:
ACC Semifinals 11 AM & 1:30 PM ESPN2
Big Ten Semifinals 2 PM and 4:30 PM BTN
SEC Semifinals 3:30 & 6 PM ESPN2
Big 12 Semifinals 3 & 5:30 PM ESPN+
Sunday:
ACC Championship Game Noon ESPN
SEC Championship Game 2 PM ESPN
Big Ten Championship Game 2:15 PM CBS
Big 12 Championship Game 4 PM ESPN
