NCAA Tournament March Madness

#39 Santa Clara

Bubble Watch | Bracketology

Chat with the Bracketologist | How does this work?


Projected seed: 11 (last four in)

Santa Clara looks like a bubble team because its résumé pairs eye-catching offensive outbursts and important road and neutral victories with a handful of damaging setbacks. The Broncos have shown they can win away at Xavier, they handled Oregon State on the road and beat Washington State in enemy territory, and they collected a neutral-court victory over Minnesota plus a key home win over St. Mary's, which speaks to their upside. That upside is blunted by a heavy loss at New Mexico, two defeats to Gonzaga, a loss at St. Mary's and narrow neutral setbacks to Saint Louis, Arizona State and Loyola-Chicago, all of which expose defensive inconsistencies committees tend to punish. Put together, those elements justify being just outside the field while leaving a straightforward path to the bracket with a marquee conference tournament win or a string of neutral-site victories.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/7McNeese St67W79-67
11/10@Xavier94W87-68
11/15Nevada74W98-83
11/18Idaho St253W64-55
11/21Louisiana315W80-43
11/27(N)St Louis31L71-70
11/28(N)Minnesota72W86-75
12/3Utah Tech183W90-80
12/6@New Mexico48L98-71
12/13(N)Arizona St59L82-79
12/17(N)North Texas142W63-60
12/20(N)Loyola-Chicago301L80-78
12/28@Oregon St178W102-64
12/30@Portland191W92-85
1/2Pepperdine265W82-63
1/4San Diego225W98-70
1/8@Gonzaga11L89-77
1/10Loy Marymount159W103-72
1/14Pacific113W85-69
1/17St Mary's CA22W62-54
1/24@San Diego225W85-73
1/28San Francisco123W88-73
1/31@Loy Marymount159W104-73
2/4@Pacific113W71-56
2/7@Washington St138W96-92
2/11Seattle115W84-72
2/14Gonzaga11L94-86
2/21@San Francisco123W94-73
2/25@St Mary's CA22L86-67
2/28Oregon St178W93-72