NCAA Tournament March Madness

#54 Cincinnati

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Projection: likely out

Cincinnati looks like a team on the outside of the field because its defense is elite while the offense has been uneven, and that split produces a résumé with a handful of impressive scalps but too many damaging setbacks. The Bearcats’ best moment is the signature win over Iowa State and solid nonconference victories, while the worst stretches are neutral-site losses to Louisville, Georgia and Clemson and a string of narrow road defeats at Xavier, West Virginia and UCF that underline an inability to finish on the road. A strong showing against Houston and the win over Colorado illustrate the defense can carry them, but the offense must start delivering in high-leverage spots. The remaining conference slate contains home chances against Baylor and West Virginia and a gauntlet of road tests at Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas State, Kansas and Texas Tech that will determine whether this profile changes. Unless Cincinnati begins to win those high-visibility road and neutral games and turns a few of those close defeats into victories, the committee will view them as a stout defensive team that still lacks the balance and signature wins needed to earn a berth.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3W Carolina279W94-63
11/7Georgia St275W74-64
11/11Dayton67W74-62
11/16Mt St Mary's292W72-55
11/21(N)Louisville16L74-64
11/24NJIT342W94-67
11/26E Michigan189L64-56
12/1Tarleton St174W76-58
12/5@Xavier92L79-74
12/13(N)Georgia28L84-65
12/17Alabama St297W88-51
12/21(N)Clemson26L68-65
12/29Lipscomb155W89-62
1/3Houston7L67-60
1/6@West Virginia60L62-60
1/11@UCF43L73-72
1/14Colorado78W77-68
1/17Iowa St8W79-70
1/21@Arizona27%
1/24@Arizona St8050%
1/28Baylor4255%
1/31@Houston711%
2/5West Virginia6066%
2/8UCF4356%
2/11@Kansas St8250%
2/15Utah11682%
2/21@Kansas1918%
2/24@Texas Tech2121%
2/28Oklahoma St6668%
3/3BYU1533%
3/7@TCU5338%