When Richard Pitino tries to talk his players off the ledge this week looking at a five-game losing streak, he'll likely bring up the fact that the Gophers men's basketball team is still in good NCAA tournament contention.
Pitino wouldn't be lying, either.
Minnesota has the longest losing streak in the Big Ten and is 0-5 since being ranked in the top 25 earlier this month, but several NCAA tournament bracket projections still have the Gophers as a 10th seed or higher.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi listed the Gophers as a No. 10 seed with his updated bracket Monday. CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm had the Gophers as No. 7 seed in his latest bracket projection this week. Other bracket predictions at SI.com and USA Today Sports have Gophers as a No. 10 seed and No. 8 seed, respectively.
Lunardi and Palm are the most well-respected bracket experts. They don't mention Minnesota as one of their last four teams in the field, so Pitino's team appears to not even be on the bubble right now. Although the Gophers could find themselves there if the losing streak continues Saturday at Illinois.
Why is Minnesota not out of the NCAA tournament projections with the latest free fall? Rating Percentage Index is the main reason. The Gophers still have a No. 24 RPI and No. 5 SOS (Strength of Schedule). Only Maryland (No. 17) and Wisconsin (No. 21) have a higher RPI in the Big Ten.
The Gophers have never made the NCAA tournament during a season where they lost five straight games or more, but they play a more favorable schedule with five of the last nine games at home. Advanced stats guru Ken Pomeroy ranked the Gophers' conference schedule No. 2 behind Rutgers, but he still has them finishing 8-10 in the Big Ten.
