NCAA Tournament March Madness

#57 Northwestern

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Projection: likely out

Northwestern’s résumé reads like a team that can win important road and neutral games but has suffered too many damaging setbacks to feel safe, which is why the likely-out call fits. The Wildcats picked up resume-helping wins away at USC and at Indiana and also won on neutral courts against South Carolina and Penn State, so the committee can credit them for success outside of Wrigley Field. Those bright spots are offset by brutal blowouts at Illinois and at Nebraska and ugly defeats at the hands of the league’s top teams such as Michigan and Purdue, and those losses chew up the equity from the good wins. With the schedule offering chances to land signature scalps that ultimately went unclaimed, Northwestern’s profile looks light on top-end victories and heavy on glaring blemishes, leaving postseason hope dependent on a strong showing in the conference slate that yet remains to be realized.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Mercyhurst287W70-47
11/7Boston Univ261W76-52
11/10Cleveland St320W110-63
11/14@DePaul102W81-79
11/21(N)Virginia13L83-78
11/23(N)South Carolina95W79-77
11/27(N)Oklahoma St66L86-81
12/3@Wisconsin22L85-73
12/6Ohio St26L86-82
12/13Jackson St341W93-53
12/16Valparaiso158W86-70
12/20(N)Butler86L61-58
12/30Howard207W80-60
1/3Minnesota77L84-78
1/8@Michigan St9L76-66
1/11@Rutgers124L77-75
1/14Illinois7L79-68
1/17Nebraska14L77-58
1/21@USC80W74-68
1/24@UCLA27L71-64
1/29Penn St138W94-73
1/31Washington53L76-62
2/4@Illinois7L84-44
2/8@Iowa25L76-70
2/11Michigan3L87-75
2/14@Nebraska14L68-49
2/18Maryland120W78-74
2/24@Indiana46W72-68
2/28Oregon99W63-62
3/4Purdue8L70-66
3/7@Minnesota77L67-66
3/10(N)Penn St138W76-66
3/11(N)Indiana46W74-61
3/12(N)Purdue8L81-68