NCAA bracketology roundup: On a free fall, Gophers now looking like an 11-seed

We are just over one week away from the month of March. That means 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 fourth edition of the 2020-21 bracket roundup.

The Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team is in a bit of a free fall.

Since we did our weekly bracketology roundup last Monday, the Gophers suffered a pair of losses to Indiana and No. 5 Illinois and dropped to 13-10 overall (6-10 Big Ten).

Minnesota has lost three straight games and is 2-6 in its last eight. And, of course, the Gophers are still searching for their first road victory of the season (0-8).

The struggles for head coach Richard Pitino’s squad are reflected in brackets around the web, as Minnesota is no longer a lock to make the tournament. The Gophers were included in 84 of the 100 tournament fields gathered by Bracket Matrix, a website dedicated to compiling bracketology insights from all corners of the internet. Last week, that number was at 97.

Of the more notable brackets we’re tracking, Watch Stadium was the most generous, handing Minnesota a 10-seed.

The average across all 100 brackets was an 11-seed, although TeamRankings.com, Haslametrics, CBS and FOX all left the Gophers off their 68-team tournament fields. Minnesota was listed as part of FOX’s “first four out” this week.

Check out some of the week’s notable brackets: