NCAA bracket roundup: Experts predict Gophers will be 9 seed
As the college basketball season heats up, FOX Sports North will round up what experts are saying about Minnesota’s chances to make the NCAA tournament in March. This is the first edition of the 2019 bracket roundup.
The Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team has yet to crack the AP top 25 poll this season -- they received a mere three votes this week despite a solid 13-3 record and quality wins over Washington, Wisconsin and Nebraska. But the good news? Experts are predicting the Gophers will make the 68-team tournament field.
Bracket Matrix is a site that compiles 65 different brackets, ranging from experts at FOX and ESPN to SB Nation blogs and everything in between. The Gophers were included in 54 of the 65 brackets that Bracket Matrix keeps a pulse on. One blog slotted Minnesota as high as a No. 5 seed (although that bracket was released Jan. 7, just a few days after the Gophers beat Wisconsin on the road). Six brackets ranked the Gophers as an 11-seed.
Overall, the experts (and non-experts) average out to slot the Gophers at a No. 9 seed.
Take a look at where 12 big-name brackets rank the Gophers below:
| BRACKET | SEED |
| FOX | NR |
| ESPN | 10 |
| CBS | 11 |
| Bleacher Report | 10 |
| SB Nation | 7 |
| Sports Illustrated | 9 |
| Washington Post | 9 |
| NCAA.com (Katz) | 7 |
| Haslametrics | 8 |
| TeamRankings.com | NR |
| Yale Undergraduates | NR |
| Watch Stadium | 8 |
