NCAA Tournament March Madness

#353 NC Central

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

NC Central's résumé points squarely toward needing the MEAC automatic berth because the nonconference slate is dominated by road defeats at major programs such as NC State, Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Penn State that have drained at-large credibility. Their best on-court moments are narrow victories over conference peers like Norfolk State and road wins at Coppin State and Morgan State while a close home loss to Longwood and lopsided defeats, notably at Howard, expose a troubling inconsistency. There are effectively no signature road or neutral-site wins to counterbalance those damaging losses so selection deliberations will rest on what they do in the conference tournament. Remaining opportunities at Delaware State and Maryland Eastern Shore and a home date with South Carolina State offer chances to build momentum but they are unlikely to change the committee’s calculus without a conference title.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@NC State25L114-66
11/7@Virginia18L81-62
11/9@Appalachian St181L76-54
11/14@North Carolina30L97-53
11/22@Dayton86L74-55
11/25@SC Upstate293L82-67
12/3@James Madison219L67-62
12/6NC A&T274L69-54
12/9@Kentucky31L103-67
12/20Longwood279L74-72
12/29@Penn St136L90-67
1/3Norfolk St309W69-67
1/10@Coppin St364W88-77
1/12@Morgan St351W89-78
1/17Howard218L83-69
2/2MD E Shore346W65-63
2/7@Norfolk St309L75-68
2/9Delaware St361W72-63
2/14Coppin St364L58-56
2/16Morgan St351W80-76
2/18@S Carolina St358L85-72
2/21@Howard218L100-67
2/28@Delaware St36151%
3/2@MD E Shore34634%
3/5S Carolina St35867%