NCAA Tournament March Madness

#128 UC Santa Barbara

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

UC Santa Barbara’s résumé is a classic mix of encouraging marquee moments and damaging slips that justify the cautious projection. Road wins at Long Beach State and at Cal State Bakersfield and a neutral victory over Seattle show the Gauchos can win away from home and in tournament‑style settings while blowout offensive nights at home against Cal Poly and Cal State Bakersfield highlight their scoring upside. Those positives are offset by a bruising neutral loss to Utah Valley, ugly setbacks at Nevada and at Wisconsin‑Green Bay, and repeated defeats at the hands of UC Davis, all of which expose defensive inconsistency and a tendency to falter against better competition away from Santa Barbara. The season-ending rematch with UC San Diego and the conference tournament provide the remaining clear chances to add a road or neutral statement and turn this resume from promising into one the selection group can confidently include.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/8San Jose St232W85-74
11/11@CS Sacramento255W92-87
11/17Loy Marymount158L78-74
11/22@Nevada74L77-64
11/28(N)Lehigh295W72-70
11/29(N)Seattle115W74-71
12/4Long Beach St247W84-77
12/6CS Bakersfield322W109-84
12/13(N)Utah Valley85L68-53
12/17@WI Green Bay194L67-64
12/22Portland191W79-61
1/1@CS Fullerton171L95-84
1/3@CS Northridge167L74-65
1/8UC Davis152L93-86
1/15@CS Bakersfield322W75-69
1/17Hawaii106W77-62
1/22Cal Poly218W107-67
1/24@Long Beach St247W74-71
1/29@UC San Diego114W62-48
1/31CS Fullerton171W83-69
2/5@UC Davis152L85-75
2/7UC Irvine110W84-79
2/12@UC Riverside263W76-68
2/14@Cal Poly218L89-79
2/19CS Northridge167L85-83
2/21@Hawaii106L78-75
2/26UC Riverside263W70-59
2/28@UC Irvine110L64-60
3/7UC San Diego11458%