Joe Lunardi - ESPN: He has moved Minnesota up to a 7 seed, playing a dangerous Syracuse team in Tulsa for a first round matchup. The winner of this game would take on the winner of Baylor and Flordia Gulf Coast in Tulsa. Not saying it would be likely, be FGCU has won a 15/2 matchup before
Lunardi continues to rank Minnesota below the other sites in terms of their projected seed in the tournament.
Jerry Palm - CBS: He has Minnesota moved up to a 5 seed after putting them at 6 last week. In a 5/12 matchup he has them playing Nevada in Sacramento. If the Gophers were to win, they would play the winner of UCLA and Princeton in the 4/13 matchup. While UCLA is borderline breathtaking on offense, Princeton is a sneaky good team who is running through a respectable Ivy League with ease this season. The 5 seed is the highest the Gophers have been projected this entire season and with three regular season games left plus the Big Ten Tournament it wouldn't be too ridiculous to imagine a 5 seed could be possible.
USA Today: The most recent projection today has Minnesota as a 5 seed in Sacramento playing the winner of a 12 seed play-in game between Providence and California. Both these teams have talented pieces but I think that Minnesota would clearly be the favorite in each game. California big man Ivan Rabb is a monster inside and shooting guard Jabari Bird could be a matchup problem. Providence wasn't expected to make the tourney this year but have a few talented veterans and are led by shooting guard Kyron Cartwright. If the Gophers were to win this game, they would play the winner of the 4/13 game, which would be UCLA and Nevada.
Analysis:
It is extremely exciting to see Minnesota play their best basketball of the season at the end of February. They have only shot up bracketology projections during the past few weeks, much to the fans delight. A second round matchup with UCLA would be a difficult match up, but the way Minnesota is playing right now you would think they could compete with anyone in the country besides maybe a couple of the number one seeds. With a win over Penn State on Saturday, you would think they would stay right on the 5/6 line for seeding. The only thing that could get them above a 5, in my opinion, is if they were to beat Wisconsin and win 2 games in the Big Ten tournament. If they were to lose to Wisconsin and win the other two games, they would probably have to win the Big Ten Tournament to get all the way up to a 3 or 4 seed.
Lunardi continues to rank Minnesota below the other sites in terms of their projected seed in the tournament.Jerry Palm - CBS: He has Minnesota moved up to a 5 seed after putting them at 6 last week. In a 5/12 matchup he has them playing Nevada in Sacramento. If the Gophers were to win, they would play the winner of UCLA and Princeton in the 4/13 matchup. While UCLA is borderline breathtaking on offense, Princeton is a sneaky good team who is running through a respectable Ivy League with ease this season. The 5 seed is the highest the Gophers have been projected this entire season and with three regular season games left plus the Big Ten Tournament it wouldn't be too ridiculous to imagine a 5 seed could be possible.
USA Today: The most recent projection today has Minnesota as a 5 seed in Sacramento playing the winner of a 12 seed play-in game between Providence and California. Both these teams have talented pieces but I think that Minnesota would clearly be the favorite in each game. California big man Ivan Rabb is a monster inside and shooting guard Jabari Bird could be a matchup problem. Providence wasn't expected to make the tourney this year but have a few talented veterans and are led by shooting guard Kyron Cartwright. If the Gophers were to win this game, they would play the winner of the 4/13 game, which would be UCLA and Nevada.
Analysis:
It is extremely exciting to see Minnesota play their best basketball of the season at the end of February. They have only shot up bracketology projections during the past few weeks, much to the fans delight. A second round matchup with UCLA would be a difficult match up, but the way Minnesota is playing right now you would think they could compete with anyone in the country besides maybe a couple of the number one seeds. With a win over Penn State on Saturday, you would think they would stay right on the 5/6 line for seeding. The only thing that could get them above a 5, in my opinion, is if they were to beat Wisconsin and win 2 games in the Big Ten tournament. If they were to lose to Wisconsin and win the other two games, they would probably have to win the Big Ten Tournament to get all the way up to a 3 or 4 seed.
