NCAA bracketology roundup: Quality wins carrying Gophers to No. 9 seed projection

We have finally arrived in mid-February. March Madness is closer than ever.

As the college basketball season heats up, FOX Sports North rounds up what experts are saying about which seed the Minnesota Gophers will be assigned in the NCAA tournament — if they make it, of course. This is the third edition of the 2020-21 bracket roundup.

The Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team has chosen its wins wisely in 2020-21.

With three weeks to go in the regular season, Minnesota stands at 13-8 overall and sits in ninth place in the Big Ten with a 6-8 conference record. The Gophers are 13-1 at home and are still looking for their first win away from Williams Arena (0-7).

However, Minnesota defeated its nation-leading fifth top-25 opponent Thursday when it bested No. 24 Purdue 71-68 at home. The Gophers have also defeated Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State and Saint Louis when those programs were in the AP top 25. Minnesota remains the only team to take down the Wolverines (14-1), who were ranked No. 3 in Monday’s AP top-25 poll.

So, what does this mean for their tournament chances?

The Gophers’ stock is slowly declining, but a few more Big Ten wins should get them into the big dance. Bracket Matrix, a website which logs the seeding averages of 100 brackets from all corners of the internet, predicts Minnesota will make the tournament as a No. 9 seed. The Gophers are one of nine Big Ten teams to make Bracket Matrix’s field of 68.

The Gophers were included on 97 of 100 brackets polled by the website, left off the fields from College Basketball Rating (CBR), the DPI Bracket and Crossroads Sports.

The highest seeding found online for Minnesota was a No. 7 seed by Making the Madness. The lowest seeding for Minnesota was a No. 12 seed by Bracket Forecast.

Among the bigger national outlets, the Gophers actually moved up a couple of spots from last week in the eyes of CBS, Haslametrics and TeamRankings.com. The biggest drop was from a No. 8 seed to No. 10 by FOX.

Check out some of the week’s notable brackets: