NCAA Tournament March Madness

#42 Cincinnati

Bubble Watch | Bracketology

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Projection: next four out

Cincinnati sits on the bubble because its résumé mixes marquee wins and damaging setbacks that point toward the play-in line. The Bearcats have proven they can beat quality opponents, with road victories at Kansas and Kansas State and impressive wins over BYU, Iowa State, and Baylor, and their identity on the defensive end gives the résumé teeth even as the offense sputters at times. Those bright spots are offset by ugly results that hurt tournament credibility, most notably the blowout loss at Arizona, lopsided defeats in Houston, ugly neutral losses to Louisville, Georgia, and Clemson, and narrow setbacks on the road at West Virginia and at UCF that create a fragile profile. With the upcoming trip to TCU still available to add a resume-building road result, the combination of top-end victories, worrisome losses, and a clear defensive strength makes a play-in projection hard to argue with.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3W Carolina234W94-63
11/7Georgia St309W74-64
11/11Dayton80W74-62
11/16Mt St Mary's279W72-55
11/21(N)Louisville17L74-64
11/24NJIT332W94-67
11/26E Michigan242L64-56
12/1Tarleton St212W76-58
12/5@Xavier94L79-74
12/13(N)Georgia30L84-65
12/17Alabama St317W88-51
12/21(N)Clemson38L68-65
12/29Lipscomb197W89-62
1/3Houston6L67-60
1/6@West Virginia56L62-60
1/11@UCF53L73-72
1/14Colorado64W77-68
1/17Iowa St8W79-70
1/21@Arizona3L77-51
1/24@Arizona St59L82-68
1/28Baylor49W67-57
1/31@Houston6L76-54
2/5West Virginia56L59-54
2/8UCF53W92-72
2/11@Kansas St101W91-62
2/15Utah120W69-65
2/21@Kansas20W84-68
2/24@Texas Tech14L80-68
2/28Oklahoma St68W91-68
3/3BYU24W90-68
3/7@TCU4442%