NCAA Tournament March Madness

#158 Rutgers

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Rutgers presents a mixed resume that has flashes of quality but plenty of damaging results, with a neutral-site win over UNLV and a gritty home victory over Penn standing out as the program’s best moments while lopsided defeats at Michigan and heavy setbacks to Tennessee and Purdue underline why the profile is fragile. A surprising loss to Central Connecticut and road defeats at Seton Hall have compounded the problem by erasing momentum and calling into question the team’s ability to win away from home against quality opponents. The remaining slate still contains clear opportunities to change perception, most notably a home date with Oregon and conference tests that include trips to Illinois, USC and UCLA along with important home games against Nebraska and Maryland, so a few signature victories would dramatically alter how the profile reads to a committee. Until those chances are seized and the instances of being blown out are limited, Rutgers looks like a team with upside that needs more consistent, meaningful wins to shift comfortably into a safer position.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/5Rider350W81-53
11/10Maine348W72-60
11/14Lehigh325W84-72
11/18American Univ234W80-71
11/21Central Conn261L67-54
11/24(N)Tennessee16L85-60
11/25(N)Notre Dame58L68-63
11/27(N)UNLV136W80-65
12/2Purdue4L81-65
12/6@Michigan1L101-60
12/13@Seton Hall46L81-59
12/20Penn214W70-69
12/29Delaware St357W65-50
1/2Ohio St39L80-73
1/5Oregon6832%
1/8@Illinois82%
1/11Northwestern6230%
1/17@Wisconsin4510%
1/20@Iowa174%
1/23Indiana2816%
1/27Michigan St1510%
1/31@USC408%
2/3@UCLA367%
2/7Nebraska2213%
2/15Maryland11047%
2/18@Penn St12230%
2/21@Minnesota9621%
2/24Washington4924%
3/1@Maryland11026%
3/5@Michigan St153%
3/8Penn St12251%