Assessing Minnesota's NCAA Tournament resume as Big Ten play heats up

Gophers women's basketball faced its toughest test of the season on Tuesday against No. 8 Maryland. While the comeback attempt came up short, they proved they can compete with the Big Ten's best.

Minnesota holds a 16-2 overall record with a 4-2 mark in the Big Ten. We are more than 25% through the conference schedule and the Gophers are tied for fifth in the Big Ten standings. ESPN's latest Bracketology, updated on Friday, still projects them as one of the 'Last Four Byes' and a 10 seed in the tournament.

Jan. 17 Bracketology update | Picture via: ESPN.com

The Gophers have an impressive record, but they're still looking for a marquee victory to make their tournament resume ironclad. Their best win this season was against Illinois at home — the Illini are 35th in the latest NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings.

The Fighting Illini are also projected to make the tournament, but Minnesota's second-best win came against Penn State, which ranks 78th in the NET, as of Friday. With road games against No. 4 USC and No. 1 UCLA looming, it's clear the Gophers are entering the toughest part of the schedule.

The Gophers entered the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 poll for the first time in nearly five years earlier this week, but they're still looking for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2017-18 season. A weak nonconference schedule put them behind the eight ball when it comes to building a strong resume, but the loaded Big Ten will give them plenty of opportunities to catch up.

Both of Minnesota's losses were considered Quad 1, which is a good thing. But 13 of their wins have come against Quad 4 opponents, which no other team comes close to matching in the NET's top 30.

Ultimately, the Gophers have beaten who they're supposed to and lost to who they're supposed to. If they keep that going they could have a place in the NCAA Tournament, but they still need marquee victories if they don't want to be sweating on Selection Sunday.