Gophers' NCAA Tournament resume unchanged after narrow loss to Ohio State

Minnesota continues to prove it's worthy of an NCAA Tournament invitation.

Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Dawn Plitzuweit cheers on her team during the second half of the NCAA women's basketball game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena in Columbus on Feb. 13, 2025. Ohio State won 87-84 in overtime. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Gophers women's basketball came back from a 14-point second-half deficit to force overtime on the road against No. 9 Ohio State on Thursday night, but they came up just short in a three-point loss. They're still without a Quad 1 victory, but they proved they deserve to be invited to this year's NCAA Tournament.

Related: Gophers women's basketball rallies to force OT, but falls to No. 9 Ohio State

Minnesota's place at No. 31 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings remained unchanged after Thursday's result. ESPN's Charlie Creme released an updated Bracketology on Friday and the Gophers actually jumped from a 10-seed to a 9-seed in his latest projection.

Feb. 14 version of ESPN's Bracketology / Picture via: ESPN.com

Minnesota will host Oregon on Sunday, which will be a Quad 2 game. They will then have a Quad 2 game at Purdue, which is bordering on Quad 3 territory as the Boilermakers rank 133rd in the latest NET. They will wrap up the regular season with a Quad 2 home game against Washington and then their final Quad 1 opportunity on March 1 at Michigan State.

The Gophers are currently 0-6 against Quad 1 opponents and they have only one loss in Quad 2. If they're able to take care of business against Oregon, Purdue and Washington and finish the regular season 22-8 it would be hard to leave them out of the NCAA Tournament field. A win against Michigan State might make them a lock for the field.

They will also have more resume-building opportunities in the Big Ten conference tournament. Minnesota would currently be the 12th seed, but with 12 Big Ten teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament, there could be plenty of big games in Indianapolis.

Ultimately, projections say Minnesota still controls its own destiny when it comes to making the Big Dance this March, which is something they haven't done since 2017-18.

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