Gophers' Selection Sunday Guide: Schedule, Bracketology, NCAA Tournament Outlook

Gophers women's basketball is expected to be a lock for an at-large invitation for this year's NCAA Tournament, marking their first appearence in the field since the 2017-18 season. There will still be plenty of drama on Selection Sunday, with their outlook as a potential top 16 seed, which would host the first two rounds, is firmly in question. Here's what you need to know.

Dates and time

Saturday, 2 p.m. CT: Top 16 early reveal (ESPN)
Sunday, 7 p.m. CT: NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Special (ESPN)

This year will be the first time the NCAA reveals the top 16 seeds for the tournament early. ESPN will alphabetically unveil the 16 host sites between the men's SEC tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon, which should be around 2 p.m.

The entire NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed as usual on Sunday night following the men's bracket announcement. That broadcast is scheduled for 7 p.m. on ESPN. Minnesota's opponent and schedule for the entire event will be officially announced then.

Latest Bracketology

Minnesota is firmly on the four or five seed line, with many experts leaning more towards a four seed. ESPN's latest projections have them as a four seed with South Carolina and Iowa as the top two seeds in the region. The Gophers' projected first-round opponent is Louisiana Tech, which plays in the C-USA tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon. Five-seed North Carolina and 12-seed Gonzaga would be the other matchup in their pod.

NCAA.com also has Minnesota as a four seed, with Green Bay as its first-round opponent. Their region has South Carolina and Iowa as the top two seeds again in the projections. North Carolina and Colorado State would be the other first-round matchup at Williams Arena in this hypothetical. With a few more conference tournament title games left to be played this weekend, the Gophers' first-round opponent is still firmly up in the air.

If the Gophers are a four or five seed, it will be their highest seed in the NCAA Tournament since they were a three seed in the 2004-05 tournament. That run ended in the regional semifinal before losing to Baylor.

Schedule

For those looking to plan ahead, Minnesota's first-round game will either be on Friday, March 20 or Saturday, March 21. If they advance to the second round, that game will be on Sunday, March 22 or Monday, March 23. The Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds would be at regional sites the following weekend.