On the edge: Gophers among 'last four in' as experts build women's basketball brackets

What impact did Minnesota's close games in the Big Ten tournament -- beating Iowa and losing to No. 1 seed Ohio State -- have on minnesota's NCAA tournament hopes?

March 6, 2018 at 1:09PM
The Minnesota mascot slaps hands with Minnesota Golden Gophers guard/forward Destiny Pitts (3) during player introductions in the 2018 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN on Saturday, March 3, 2018.
The Minnesota mascot slaps hands with Minnesota Golden Gophers guard/forward Destiny Pitts (3) during player introductions in the 2018 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament held at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN on Saturday, March 3, 2018. (Dave Denney — Indiana University Health/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Gophers will find out their NCAA women's basketball tournament fate on Monday after the full run of conference tournaments have been played. Coach Marlene Stallings sounded certain that Friday's 90-89 victory over Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals was enough to give the Gophers a spot in the field. The phrase she used was "in safely."

But they are still living on the edge, according to two respected bracket updates that were published after last weekend's games, including the Big Ten tournament, which was won by Ohio State, the team that beat Minnesota in the semifinals.

Both Charlie Creme at ESPN and Russell Steinberg at Summitt Hoops have the Gophers among their "last four teams" in the tournament. Creme has Minnesota as a No. 9 seed playing Villanova and Steinberg has the Gophers as a 10th seed playing Syracuse. If one of them is accurate, they would set up the Gophers to play a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the second round if they win their opener.

The ESPN bracket is particularly miserable for the Big Ten because he lists four conference teams among the top eight that wouldn't make the field.

The Gophers are ranked No. 41 in the NCAA's Ratings Percentage Index, which quantifies teams across all conferences based on a number of factors. Beating Iowa, which is No. 21 in RPI, certainly helped their chances.

Despite having those four Big ten teams on the wrong side of the tournament bubble, Creme did say before the tournament started that "a bid should be secure" for the Gophers if they beat Iowa.

about the writer

about the writer

Howard Sinker

Digital Sports Editor

Howard Sinker is digital sports editor at startribune.com and curates the website's Sports Upload blog. He is also a senior instructor in Media and Cultural Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul.

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