Gophers picked as 6, 8, 10 seeds in preseason brackets

Do they mean anything? Absolutely not.

Do we care anyway? Yes, of course we do. Just in time for the regular season, the bracketologists are crunching away and have started posting their preseason version of the eventual NCAA tournament bracket. Right now, most believe the Gophers belong there in some capacity – but there's significant discrepancy about where they'll end up. Take a gander at three prominent brackets, two of which came out today.

• Andy Glockner, from Sports Illustrated has Minnesota as a 10-seed.
• Joe Lunardi, from ESPN has them as an 8-seed.
• CBS Sports' Jerry Palm – whose bracket came out on Oct. 12, before preseason play – has the Gophers all the way up at 6.

The lack of a clear spot for the Gophers probably has a lot to do with the fact that there are so many questions on this team that are still not answered (Will Trevor Mbakwe be his old self? Can this team shoot? Is Andre Hollins a difference-making point guard?) through the exhibition games. A part of me wonders how any analyst can put them higher than a 10-seed right now, considering there are so many variables to this squad's success. Still, I like the Gophers somewhere in the middle – say as a 7-seed. But of course, I'm not a bracketologist (thank goodness). What do you guys think?