NCAA Tournament March Madness

#91 Northern Iowa

Bubble Watch | Bracketology

Chat with the Bracketologist | How does this work?


Projection: likely out

Northern Iowa’s profile is built around a stingy defense that produced solid nonconference wins highlighted by a neutral-site victory over Loyola-Chicago and a road triumph at UC Irvine. Those bright spots are tempered by losses at St Mary’s, a neutral setback to Tulsa and a home defeat to Wichita State, results that expose limitations against better opponents and leave the résumé short on signature wins. The league slate still hands them clear chances to change the conversation, with a home meeting against Belmont and a road trip to Illinois State standing out as opportunities to add high-value victories while games at Valparaiso and against Indiana State and Evansville are musts for avoiding further damage. If Northern Iowa can collect another road or neutral win its defensive identity and earlier quality results will carry more weight otherwise the nonconference blemishes will keep the committee cautious.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/6CS Northridge210W86-57
11/9S Dakota St184W65-58
11/14Furman152W70-54
11/18N Illinois318W70-57
11/22@UC Irvine131W70-69
11/25(N)Loyola-Chicago297W72-51
11/26(N)Tulsa82L63-60
12/6Wichita St93L74-69
12/13Oakland145W75-63
12/17@IL Chicago208W60-54
12/22@St Mary's CA32L63-58
12/29Valparaiso209W58-48
1/1Indiana St18885%
1/4@Evansville27080%
1/7Belmont7155%
1/10@Bradley12250%
1/13IL Chicago20886%
1/17@Valparaiso20970%
1/21@Illinois St7835%
1/24Murray St9662%
1/28@S Illinois12050%
1/31Evansville27092%
2/6Bradley12272%
2/9@Murray St9640%
2/12@Belmont7133%
2/15Drake15479%
2/18@Indiana St18868%
2/21S Illinois12071%
2/25Illinois St7857%
3/1@Drake15460%