Minnesota Gophers women draw No. 4 seed and Green Bay matchup in 2026 NCAA tournament
Minnesota earns a protected seed after a 22-win regular season
The University of Minnesota women’s basketball team has been awarded a No. 4 seed in the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, placing the Gophers among the top 16 seeds in the 68-team field. The bracket was revealed Sunday, March 15, setting Minnesota up with the advantages that typically accompany a top-four seed: a clearer path in the opening weekend and the expectation of avoiding the tournament’s highest-seeded teams until the later rounds.
Minnesota entered postseason play with a 22–7 overall record and a 13–5 mark in Big Ten competition, a conference result that secured the program the No. 4 seed and double-bye in the Big Ten tournament bracket earlier this month. The team’s late-season positioning was strengthened by a road win at Illinois on March 1, a game that locked in Minnesota’s Big Ten tournament seed line.
First-round opponent set: No. 13 Green Bay
In the NCAA first round, Minnesota will face No. 13 seed Green Bay on Thursday, March 20. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. Central Time. The matchup places a Big Ten team with a top-four seed against a double-digit seed that reached the field through its conference pathway, a common opening-weekend structure designed to reward regular-season performance while preserving upset potential.
NCAA seed: No. 4
First-round opponent: No. 13 Green Bay
Date/time: Thursday, March 20, 6 p.m. CT
Bracket context: Minnesota placed in a region led by UCLA
Minnesota’s placement situates the Gophers in a regional bracket topped by No. 1 seed UCLA. In the same first-round cluster, No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Duke are also positioned on Minnesota’s side of the draw, shaping the likely progression of opponents should higher seeds advance as expected. Minnesota’s slot also reflects the committee’s broader bracket architecture in 2026, with UConn, UCLA, Texas and South Carolina receiving No. 1 seeds.
The women’s NCAA tournament begins with First Four games March 18–19, followed by the first round March 20–21 and second round March 22–23.
What the No. 4 seed means for Minnesota’s path
A No. 4 seed typically signals that a team’s full body of work—overall record, strength of schedule, and quality results—placed it firmly above the tournament bubble. For Minnesota, it also represents a notable shift from last season’s postseason route, when the program competed in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and finished as the event’s champion. Now, the Gophers move into March with a protected seed and an opening matchup that will determine whether the team can translate its regular-season résumé into a deeper NCAA tournament run.
The winner of Minnesota–Green Bay advances to the second round in the same bracket grouping, where the opponent would be determined by results within the pod.