Gophers March Madness Hub: Schedule, Seed, Opponent & Path to the Final Four

Minnesota is officially back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season. As a top 16 seed, the Gophers officially drew a four seed in Sunday's bracket reveal. They will host 13-seed Green Bay in the first round on Friday. Here's what you need to know.

Gophers' seed and matchup

The Gophers' four seed is the highest in program history since being a three seed in the 2004-05 season. That run ended with a regional semifinal loss against Baylor under historic head coach Pam Borton.

Minnesota will host 13-seed Green Bay on Friday at the Barn. The Phoenix won the Horizon League regular season title and tournament title with a 25-8 overall record. They're coached by Kayla Karius, who originally replaced Dawn Plitzuweit at South Dakota in 2022.

Green Bay has a handful of Minnesota natives on its roster, headlined by leading scorer Jenna Guyer from Circle Pines, Minnesota. The 6-foot-2 post player is averaging 15.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Meghan Schultz is averaging 12.5 points, and Maddy Skorupski is at 11.0 points per game, as the only other two players averaging double figures.

The Gophers faced Green Bay in their last NCAA Tournament appearence in 2017-18. They won that game, which was a 7/10 matchup in the first round. Friday will be their 16th all-time matchup and first since 2021-22, which was in the first round of the WNIT.

Sacramento Region: 2 full bracket

No. 1 UCLA (31-1) vs. No. 16 Cal Baptist (23-10)
No. 8 Oklahoma State (23-9) vs. No. 9 Princeton (26-3)

No. 4 Minnesota (22-8) vs. No. 13 Green Bay (25-8)
No. 5 Ole Miss (23-11) vs. No. 12 Gonzaga (24-9)

No. 3 Duke (24-8) vs. No. 14 Charleston (27-5)
No. 6 Baylor (24-8) vs. No. 11 Nebraska/No. 11 Richmond

No. 2 LSU (27-5) vs. No. 15 Jacksonville (24-9)
No. 7 Texas Tech (25-7) vs. No. 10 Villanova (25-7)

If Minnesota gets past Green Bay, it will face the winner of Ole Miss and Gonzaga on Sunday for a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. If the bracket doesn't have any upsets, Minnesota could have a rematch with Big Ten champs UCLA in the Elite 8 round.

The bottom half of the bracket features some of the top programs in the sport with Duke as the three seed and LSU as the two seed. If the Gophers want to make a run to the Final Four, they will certainly have their hands full.