On the heels of a current eight-game winning streak, the nation is finally starting to notice the Minnesota Golden Gophers women’s basketball team’s rise up the Big Ten standings. After lurking in the receiving votes portion of the AP Poll for the last few weeks, the Gophers finally cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time this season entering the poll at #23. It’s the first time the Gophers have been ranked this season and it’s the second time under Dawn Plitzuweit. Minnesota was last ranked #24 in the January 13, 2025 poll after beginning last season 16-1 before injuries wrecked the season. Minnesota will hopefully see a similar ranking when the newest NCAA Coaches Poll is released on Tuesday.
Minnesota is joined by six other Big Ten teams in the AP poll including #2 UCLA, #6 Michigan, #10 Ohio State, #13 Iowa, #14 Maryland, and #18 Michigan State. Minnesota will close out the home portion of the regular season this week with a pair of huge Top 25 battles. Minnesota hosts the #10 ranked Buckeyes on Wednesday night before celebrating Senior Night on Sunday against # 18 Michigan State.
The last stretch of three games in the regular season is monumental not only for the Gophers NCAA seeding, but for their seeding at the Big Ten Tournament as well. Minnesota currently is in 5th place in the Big Ten with an 11-4 record. They are just a half game back of Iowa and Ohio State for third and fourth place in the conference, and two games ahead of Maryland for 6th place. The top 4 finishers in the Big Ten earn one of the coveted double-byes in the Big Ten Tournament that will take place in Indianapolis from March 4-8. A win over the Buckeyes on Wednesday night would propel the Gophers into third place in the conference as they would hold the tiebreakers over both the Hawkeyes and Ohio State. Minnesota allready ranks third in the Big Ten in the NET rankings coming in at #9 nationally this week trailing only UCLA and Michigan.
We will have a deeper look at NCAA Bracketology later this week, but currently the Gophers are generally in the 6-seed range. The Top 4 seeds in each bracket earn the right to host the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. It would be possible for Minnesota to move up to the #4 line, but it would take minimum one win over a top ranked team if not two this week, and likely a run in the Big Ten Tournament.
They quest to keep climbing comes on Wednesday night at 7 PM when the 10th ranked Buckeyes come to Minneapolis. Ohio State blew a 20-point lead on Sunday and lost to #14 Maryland. The game will stream on B1G+.