NCAA Tournament March Madness

#159 Penn

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

The projection that Penn needs to secure the Ivy automatic bid is sensible because the resume is driven by league success while the nonconference slate contains damaging results that a committee will remember. The Quakers’ strongest moments came inside the Ivy, from a neutral-site win over Harvard and a road victory at Cornell to a home reversal of an earlier loss at Princeton, showing clear in‑conference growth and the head‑to‑head wins committees prize. Those positives are balanced by ugly nonconference setbacks, most notably a lopsided trip to Providence, a brutal neutral loss to Villanova and a disappointing home defeat to Hofstra, along with an odd road loss at American University that undercuts résumé momentum. Narrow setbacks on the road at Rutgers and at Harvard show Penn can compete away from home but they do not substitute for a marquee nonconference road or neutral victory. With the profile tilted toward Ivy results and scarred by a few damaging nonconference outcomes the cleanest path to the tournament for Penn is to take the automatic berth.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/9@American Univ238L84-78
11/11@Providence72L106-81
11/17St Joseph's PA118W83-74
11/21@Drexel222W84-68
11/28Merrimack179W77-65
11/29La Salle233W73-71
11/30Hofstra88L77-60
12/6(N)Villanova33L90-63
12/8Lafayette325W74-72
12/20@Rutgers124L70-69
12/28@George Mason96L83-79
12/31NJIT332W80-61
1/5@Princeton252L78-76
1/10Brown290W81-73
1/17@Dartmouth274W84-74
1/19@Harvard152L64-63
1/24Yale76L77-60
1/30@Columbia191L72-67
1/31@Cornell164W91-81
2/7Princeton252W61-60
2/13Columbia191W76-67
2/14Cornell164W82-76
2/21@Yale76L74-70
2/27Dartmouth274W80-71
2/28Harvard152W64-61
3/6@Brown290W82-61
3/14(N)Harvard152W62-60