NCAA Tournament March Madness

#158 Rutgers

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Rutgers arrives at this moment with a résumé that pairs meaningful bright spots with damaging setbacks, which is why the clearest path to the NCAA field runs through the conference’s automatic berth. The Scarlet Knights have shown they can beat solid opponents in controlled settings, as in the neutral-site victory over UNLV and home wins over Oregon and Northwestern, but those moments are overshadowed by lopsided defeats in hostile environments such as trips to Michigan and Illinois and by tough neutral losses to Tennessee and Notre Dame and heavy home setbacks to top conference rivals. Success away from home has been scarce and losses at Seton Hall, Wisconsin and Iowa underline an inability so far to finish in difficult road arenas, so regular-season victories at prominent road venues would be the sort of résumé builders the selection committee rewards while home wins over Maryland and Penn State help but do not erase the damage of bad losses. With daunting road tests ahead at USC, UCLA and Michigan State, Rutgers has limited windows to produce signature results, making a conference tournament title the most straightforward route onto the bracket.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/5Rider355W81-53
11/10Maine345W72-60
11/14Lehigh302W84-72
11/18American Univ206W80-71
11/21Central Conn291L67-54
11/24(N)Tennessee20L85-60
11/25(N)Notre Dame82L68-63
11/27(N)UNLV121W80-65
12/2Purdue8L81-65
12/6@Michigan2L101-60
12/13@Seton Hall52L81-59
12/20Penn193W70-69
12/29Delaware St358W65-50
1/2Ohio St38L80-73
1/5Oregon91W88-85
1/8@Illinois4L81-55
1/11Northwestern60W77-75
1/17@Wisconsin39L96-87
1/20@Iowa21L68-62
1/23Indiana35L82-59
1/27Michigan St65%
1/31@USC5011%
2/3@UCLA419%
2/7Nebraska127%
2/15Maryland12653%
2/18@Penn St13332%
2/21@Minnesota8420%
2/24Washington4824%
3/1@Maryland12631%
3/5@Michigan St61%
3/8Penn St13354%