Bracketology roundup: Gophers running out of time to right the ship

As the college basketball season heats up, FOX Sports North will round up what experts are saying about the chances for Minnesota to make the NCAA tournament in March. This is the fifth edition of the 2019 bracket roundup.

Consecutive losses to Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Nebraska have the Gophers on the ropes according to some of the more notable bracketology heads out there.



CBS likes Minnesota as a nine seed, alongside Ohio State, NC State and Syracuse, while Bleacher Report dropped the Gophers from a nine to a 10 seed before the Nebraska game.

The Athletic also likes the Gophers as a 10 seed.

The mood was a bit grimmer over on Bracket Matrix, which rounds up 106 brackets of varying quality from across the bracketology community and spits out a composite ranking.

Minnesota is an 11 seed currently, alongside Clemson, VCU and Arizona State.

Several sites -- with names like "Carolina Sports Thoughts" and "Seed Madness" -- have the Gophers listed as a 12 seed.

They're not alone, however.

ESPN's Joe Lunardi has the Gophers (a 12 seed) on the bubble with Clemson, UCF and Seton Hall in his "Last Four Byes," group.

With good reason.

The Gophers have whiffed on a few opportunities to move up lately, most recently in a blowout loss to Michigan State, which had lost three straight to Purdue, Indiana and Illinois heading into that game.

Nebraska, winless in seven straight prior, also snapped a lengthy streak against the Gophers, winning 62-61 on a controversial last-second foul.

With Indiana, Michigan, Rutgers, Northwestern, Purdue and Maryland left on the schedule, the Gophers are running out of time to add to their resume.