NCAA Tournament March Madness

#82 Minnesota

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Projection: likely out

Minnesota’s résumé has clear high points — home wins over Indiana and Iowa and a true road victory at Northwestern — but those moments are swamped by damaging results: neutral-site setbacks to San Francisco, Stanford and Santa Clara, a heavy loss at Purdue and tough defeats away at Illinois and Ohio State that sap résumé value. Close home losses to USC and Wisconsin, followed by another defeat in Madison, expose a difficulty closing games against comparable teams and mute the benefit of keeping losses tight. The remaining slate includes winnable assignments such as Maryland at home and Rutgers plus a return visit from Northwestern, yet it also hands the team brutally difficult tests like a trip to Michigan, a home date with Michigan State and a western road swing that are unlikely to produce easy résumé lifts. That balance of limited signature road success, damaging neutral and road setbacks, and a finish that leans toward hard matchups explains why Minnesota is positioned outside the comfortable part of the field.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Gardner Webb363W87-60
11/8Alcorn St344W95-50
11/12@Missouri59L83-60
11/15WI Green Bay226W72-65
11/18Chicago St358W66-54
11/22(N)San Francisco102L77-65
11/27(N)Stanford81L72-68
11/28(N)Santa Clara44L86-75
12/3Indiana31W73-64
12/10@Purdue9L85-57
12/14TX Southern311W89-53
12/21Campbell205W78-50
12/29F Dickinson342W60-43
1/3@Northwestern62W84-78
1/6Iowa23W70-67
1/9USC47L70-69
1/13Wisconsin41L78-75
1/17@Illinois4L77-67
1/20@Ohio St40L82-74
1/24Nebraska11L76-57
1/28@Wisconsin41L67-63
2/1@Penn St12554%
2/4Michigan St715%
2/8Maryland12275%
2/14@Washington4825%
2/17@Oregon9845%
2/21Rutgers15581%
2/24@Michigan23%
2/28UCLA3939%
3/4@Indiana3118%
3/7Northwestern6254%