NCAA bracketology roundup: Gophers looking like a No. 7 seed

The 2021 calendar has finally flipped to February. That means March Madness is right around the corner.

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 first edition of the 2020-21 bracket roundup.

Since Richard Pitino was hired ahead of the 2013-14 season, the Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team has made the NCAA tournament twice.

Minnesota was a No. 5 seed in 2016-17 when it lost 81-72 to 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee in the opening round. In 2018-19, the 10th-seeded Gophers beat Louisville 86-76 in the first round before falling to No. 2 seed Michigan State.

Seventeen games into the 2020-21 campaign, Pitino’s squad is putting together a tournament-worthy resume. Minnesota has beaten quality opponents like Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Saint Louis — all at home — en route to an 11-6 overall record (4-6 Big Ten).

As long as the Gophers can string together five or so more wins over their final nine games of the regular season, that should be enough to get an invitation to the dance.

The experts agree.

Minnesota is included in all 80 brackets compiled by Bracket Matrix, a website dedicated to tracking bracketology from just about everywhere on the internet, ranging from experts in the field to random WordPress blogs.

All of the information combines to slot Minnesota as a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament, along with Florida, Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech. FOX agrees, as the @CBBonFOX Twitter account has the Gophers as a 7 seed and one of nine Big Ten teams to make the 68-team field.

The highest seeding for Minnesota by a noteworthy outlet was The Athletic predicting the Gophers will land a No. 5 seed, with a first-round matchup against the winner of a play-in contest between Arkansas and Colorado State.

The lowest notable seeding was No. 11 seed by Haslametrics, a website which evaluates teams based on a laundry list of analytic stats. Haslametrics predicts Minnesota would play Florida, Kansas, St. Bonaventure or Xavier – the site’s current No. 6 seeds.

Check out some of the week’s most notable brackets: