NCAA Tournament March Madness

#161 Rutgers

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Rutgers' season reads like a résumé with flashes of promise surrounded by too many self-inflicted wounds. The neutral-site victory over UNLV and the upset of Oregon are the kind of signature results a committee respects, and tight wins over Penn and at Northwestern show they can compete, but those moments are overwhelmed by heavy defeats at Michigan and at UCLA and damaging losses to Illinois and Michigan State along with road setbacks at Seton Hall, Wisconsin and USC and an inexplicable loss to Central Connecticut. Home setbacks against established conference opponents further erode the profile because there are not enough quality road or neutral wins to offset the damage, and with the remaining chances largely consisting of home dates with Maryland and Penn State and difficult trips to Minnesota and Michigan State the clearest way for Rutgers to guarantee a tournament spot is to claim the conference’s automatic berth.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/5Rider357W81-53
11/10Maine349W72-60
11/14Lehigh300W84-72
11/18American Univ248W80-71
11/21Central Conn287L67-54
11/24(N)Tennessee19L85-60
11/25(N)Notre Dame80L68-63
11/27(N)UNLV128W80-65
12/2Purdue8L81-65
12/6@Michigan1L101-60
12/13@Seton Hall48L81-59
12/20Penn174W70-69
12/29Delaware St359W65-50
1/2Ohio St40L80-73
1/5Oregon100W88-85
1/8@Illinois6L81-55
1/11Northwestern70W77-75
1/17@Wisconsin29L96-87
1/20@Iowa24L68-62
1/23Indiana34L82-59
1/27Michigan St13L88-79
1/31@USC49L78-75
2/3@UCLA41L98-66
2/7Nebraska11L80-68
2/15Maryland12653%
2/18@Penn St12331%
2/21@Minnesota7919%
2/24Washington4725%
3/1@Maryland12631%
3/5@Michigan St132%
3/8Penn St12353%