Gophers Have a Golden Opportunity to Boost NCAA Tournament Seeding

Minnesota has four more opportunities to boost its resume before the postseason.

Iowa guard Journey Houston (8) shoots the ball against Minnesota center Sophie Hart (52) on Feb. 5, 2026, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. | Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Gophers have won seven games in a row, and they're one of the hottest teams in women's basketball. Currently at 19-6, it seems inevitable that they will get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017-18, but what will their seed be?

ESPN's latest Bracketology projection from Charlie Creme still has the Gophers on the seven-seed line, as of Friday morning. CBS has a more optimistic outlook with them as a six seed in their latest projections.

The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings are the top metric used to seed teams for the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers are No. 10 in the latest rankings, despite being unranked in the AP Top 25 poll. Each team is placed into quadrants to determine the value of each result, and three of Minnesota's final four regular-season games will be Quad 1 opportunities.

The Gophers will be heavily favored to take care of business at Wisconsin, but they close the regular season with back-to-back home games against Ohio State and Michigan State before wrapping things up on the road at Illinois. Their final three opponents currently rank 32nd or higher in the NET.

If Minnesota stays hot and closes the regular season with four straight wins, it would have a double bye in the Big Ten tournament as a top-four seed. A top-four seed in the NCAA Tournament would then become within reach, which is significant because they would have the opportunity to host their first and second round games.

A major reason for the Gophers' current seed projection is their lack of Quad 1 wins. Victories over USC, Iowa and Oregon land in that range, and they'll have three more resume-building opportunities to end the year. They've lost just two home games all season, and if they're able to beat Ohio State and Michigan State at least, their postseason outlook would dramatically change.

There are plenty of dominoes left to fall between now and the true madness of March, but Minnesota has a golden opportunity. The program hasn't been higher than an eight seed in the NCAA Tournament since the 2004-05 season, when they were a three seed. The Gophers have a chance to break a lot of long streaks in year three under Dawn Plitzuweit.