NCAA Tournament March Madness
#38 Santa Clara
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Projection: first four out
Santa Clara’s résumé pairs a handful of signature road wins at Xavier and Oregon State with a neutral-site triumph over Minnesota, showing it can win outside of its building, but those highlights are muddied by a blowout loss at New Mexico, a razor-thin neutral defeat to Saint Louis and other tight neutral setbacks to Arizona State and Loyola-Chicago along with a road loss at Gonzaga that underline inconsistency against top-tier opponents. A home victory over St Mary’s and solid road outcomes at Washington State and San Diego help the profile, yet many victories have come against lesser opponents and therefore carry limited sway with the selection committee. The remaining slate, which includes a home rematch with Gonzaga and trips to San Francisco and St Mary’s plus a home date with Oregon State, gives clear opportunities to flip the narrative. Until those games are played, the mixture of signature wins and damaging losses leaves Santa Clara looking like a borderline tournament candidate.
| Date | Opponent | Ranking | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11/7 | McNeese St | 75 | W79-67 |
| 11/10 | @Xavier | 94 | W87-68 |
| 11/15 | Nevada | 55 | W98-83 |
| 11/18 | Idaho St | 238 | W64-55 |
| 11/21 | Louisiana | 308 | W80-43 |
| 11/27 | (N)St Louis | 24 | L71-70 |
| 11/28 | (N)Minnesota | 80 | W86-75 |
| 12/3 | Utah Tech | 183 | W90-80 |
| 12/6 | @New Mexico | 45 | L98-71 |
| 12/13 | (N)Arizona St | 70 | L82-79 |
| 12/17 | (N)North Texas | 141 | W63-60 |
| 12/20 | (N)Loyola-Chicago | 314 | L80-78 |
| 12/28 | @Oregon St | 178 | W102-64 |
| 12/30 | @Portland | 196 | W92-85 |
| 1/2 | Pepperdine | 284 | W82-63 |
| 1/4 | San Diego | 216 | W98-70 |
| 1/8 | @Gonzaga | 10 | L89-77 |
| 1/10 | Loy Marymount | 147 | W103-72 |
| 1/14 | Pacific | 103 | W85-69 |
| 1/17 | St Mary's CA | 32 | W62-54 |
| 1/24 | @San Diego | 216 | W85-73 |
| 1/28 | San Francisco | 130 | W88-73 |
| 1/31 | @Loy Marymount | 147 | W104-73 |
| 2/4 | @Pacific | 103 | W71-56 |
| 2/7 | @Washington St | 133 | W96-92 |
| 2/11 | Seattle | 132 | W84-72 |
| 2/14 | Gonzaga | 10 | 39% |
| 2/21 | @San Francisco | 130 | 77% |
| 2/25 | @St Mary's CA | 32 | 35% |
| 2/28 | Oregon St | 178 | 94% |