NCAA Tournament March Madness

#352 NC Central

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

NC Central’s profile points squarely to the conference tournament as the realistic path because the nonconference slate was defined by lopsided road defeats at blue‑blood programs like NC State, Virginia, Kentucky and North Carolina and even the neutral and mid‑major opportunities against teams such as Dayton and Penn State did not yield resume‑building victories. The team’s best moments came in routine wins over conference peers and lower‑tier opponents, including road victories at Coppin State and Morgan State and home wins over Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore, plus a couple of neutral‑site successes late in the season. The worst stretches were the heavy losses at major arenas and damaging home setbacks, notably versus NC A&T and Howard, which undermine the modest body of work against lesser foes. Because selection committees prioritize quality wins, meaningful road and neutral success and avoiding bad losses, NC Central lacks the signature résumé elements to force an at‑large case and therefore needs the automatic conference berth to reach the field.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@NC State34L114-66
11/7@Virginia13L81-62
11/9@Appalachian St195L76-54
11/14@North Carolina29L97-53
11/22@Dayton77L74-55
11/25@SC Upstate302L82-67
12/3@James Madison213L67-62
12/6NC A&T291L69-54
12/9@Kentucky28L103-67
12/20Longwood271L74-72
12/29@Penn St138L90-67
1/3Norfolk St327W69-67
1/10@Coppin St363W88-77
1/12@Morgan St353W89-78
1/17Howard207L83-69
2/2MD E Shore350W65-63
2/7@Norfolk St327L75-68
2/9Delaware St362W72-63
2/14Coppin St363L58-56
2/16Morgan St353W80-76
2/18@S Carolina St356L85-72
2/21@Howard207L100-67
2/28@Delaware St362W74-60
3/2@MD E Shore350W77-73
3/5S Carolina St356L80-64
3/12(N)MD E Shore350W83-76
3/13(N)Delaware St362W59-53
3/14(N)Howard207L70-63