For the first time, the NCAA revealed the 16 teams that will be hosting on opening weekend a day before the bracket is revealed for the women's tournament, and one of those teams is the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
The Gopher women are staying home to open the NCAA Tournament, hosting Wisconsin-Green Bay Friday at 5:00 p.m. at Williams Arena.
Gopher head coach Dawn Plitzuweit says it's not going to be a pushover.
"They win. That's what Green Bay does," Plizuweit said. "They win at a very, very high level, obviously very familiar with their coaching staff, have a ton of respect to win that conference over and over again. And to continue to go dancing is something that they do at a high level, and so we're gonna have to play really good basketball."
The other first-round matchup at Williams Arena on Friday is Ole Miss against Gonzaga beginning at 2:30 p.m.
The winners of Friday's game square off at The Barn on Sunday, with the survivor headed to the women's basketball Sweet 16. The Gophers are the 4-seed in the region.
"Ultimately you have to do what you do, and your team can't change just because either they're really excited to be in the tournament, our case now excited to host the tournament," Plitzuweit adds. "You have to get back to being true to yourself and for us, you know, being disciplined and being a team that gets after it is something that we have to get back to doing."
Other teams in the same bracket as Minnesota include another Big Ten team, top seed UCLA (#2 in the AP women's poll), along with LSU (#5), and Duke (#8). The Gophers are currently ranked #18 in the AP poll.
Top-ranked UConn, who are again unbeaten and the championship favorite, are the overall number-one seed in the tournament. Texas, South Carolina and UCLA are the other one-seeds.
By announcing the host schools a day early it gives them an extra day to sell tickets, broadcast partner ESPN to start to move its equipment to the locations and the NCAA to get its marketing materials to sites. The NCAA has done this before in other sports such as baseball.
“There’s such a quick turnaround so if schools know that they’re going to be hosting, that allows them to start that process earlier,” NCAA vice president of women’s basketball Lynn Holzman said in an interview with The Associated Press a few weeks ago. “It helps us operate nationally as we have to get things moved throughout the country within about a 24, not even a 24-hour period.”
The regional rounds will be played at two neutral sites for the fourth straight year. Fort Worth, Texas, will host half of the Sweet 16, and Sacramento, California, will host the other eight teams.
If Minnesota advances to the regional, they'd play in Sacramento, joining the top-seeded Gamecocks along with No. 2 Michigan, and No. 3 TCU.
The Final Four will be played in Phoenix on April 3 and the NCAA championship game is two days later.
The Golden Gophers are headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018 and 11th in school history. In addition, it marks the first time Minnesota will host an NCAA Tournament game since 2005 when the Gophers were a No. 3 seed, its highest in program history.
Minnesota is 12-10 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, which includes a run to the Final Four in 2004. The Maroon and Gold have advanced to the Sweet 16 three times (2003, 2004, 2005), while also competing in one Elite Eight (2004). Minnesota made its first NCAA Appearance in 1994.
Tickets for the general public can be purchased at gophersports.com starting at 10:00 a.m. Monday morning.
First and Second Round Schedule (at Williams Arena):
Friday, March 20
(2:30 pm) - No. 5 seed Ole Miss vs. No. 12 seed Gonzaga
(5 pm) - No. 4 seed Minnesota vs. No. 13 seed Green Bay
Sunday, March 22
(Time TBA) - Game One Winner vs. Game Two Winner
They play Wisconsin-Green Bay in the opener, and coach Dawn Plitzuweit says it is a tough matchup: "They win"
