Gophers projected as 8 seed in women's NCAA Tournament

The Gophers are sitting on a chance to pile up wins in the Big Ten.

Forget being on a bubble, the Minnesota Gophers women's basketball team is projected as an on-the-rise No. 8 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN's bracketology. 

Minnesota is 14-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten in the first year under head coach Dawn Plitzuweit, stacking up conference wins over Purdue, Michigan, Nebraska and Michigan State, with conference losses to Iowa, Indiana and Maryland. 

The Gophers' only other loss was back in November to national power UConn. 

Minnesota can add to their tourney resume with a bunch of winnable games on the schedule, including the next four start against Wisconsin (8-9, 1-6) Tuesday night followed by games versus Illinois (8-9, 2-5), Penn State (13-5, 4-3) and Michigan State (13-5, 3-4). 

If they win all four they'll be 18-4 overall and 8-3 in the Big Ten heading into a huge game Feb. 8 against 12th-ranked Ohio State. The Buckeyes are running hot after upsetting No. 2 Iowa last weekend. 

Then the Gophers get three straight against the bottom three teams in the conference, Rutgers, Northwestern and Wisconsin. 

Minnesota didn't reach the NCAA Tournament in five years under head coach Lindsay Whalen and they haven't been invited to the tourney since Marlene Stollings guided them to the second round as a No. 10 seed in 2017-18. 

Minnesota's Janay Sanders goes into for a layup against Michigan State at Williams Arena / Photo by Keya Shapiro, University of Minnesota