NCAA Tournament March Madness

#114 UC Irvine

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Projection: likely out

UC Irvine lands on the outside because its résumé is a study in conflicting signals: it boasts resume-building neutral wins over South Dakota State and North Dakota State and meaningful road victories at CS Bakersfield, CS Fullerton and San Jose State that prove it can win away from home, but those positives are offset by a lopsided loss at Belmont, a neutral-site setback to New Mexico State and a string of close defeats at Utah Valley, Northern Iowa, UC Davis, Hawaii and UC Santa Barbara that leave the committee uneasy. The team’s defense has shown it can carry games, yet offensive inconsistency in key spots turned winnable road tests into damaging blemishes. With a remaining slate that includes trips to Long Beach State and CS Northridge plus home chances against UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly and UC Davis there are clear opportunities to change perception, but until a couple of those opportunities become quality road or neutral wins the overall profile reads like a team with good pieces but not a resume that commands an at-large nod.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/7Cal Baptist120L69-61
11/15Weber St215W79-70
11/19@Utah Valley88L79-72
11/22Northern Iowa87L70-69
11/25(N)New Mexico St167L57-45
11/26(N)S Dakota St214W64-52
11/30@San Jose St253W72-63
12/4UC Riverside271W73-60
12/6CS Northridge157W85-71
12/19Belmont57L84-58
12/21(N)N Dakota St124W74-73
12/22(N)Norfolk St310W89-70
1/1@CS Bakersfield317W81-77
1/3@CS Fullerton180W86-64
1/8Long Beach St242W74-64
1/10@Hawaii104L67-66
1/17@UC Davis155L75-72
1/22@UC Riverside271W80-66
1/24@UC San Diego117W61-59
1/29Hawaii104W87-76
2/5CS Bakersfield317W78-62
2/7@UC Santa Barbara129L84-79
2/12@Cal Poly224L79-73
2/14CS Fullerton180W86-65
2/19@Long Beach St24267%
2/21UC San Diego11762%
2/26@CS Northridge15751%
2/28UC Santa Barbara12965%
3/5Cal Poly22482%
3/7UC Davis15571%