NCAA Tournament March Madness

#45 UCF

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

UCF’s résumé is built on a handful of statement wins — most notably a home win over Kansas, a road victory at Texas A&M and a neutral-site triumph over Pittsburgh — that show their offense can hang with quality opponents, but those marquee moments are balanced by a very negative nonconference loss to Vanderbilt and a disappointing trip to Oklahoma State that expose stubborn defensive issues and teachable vulnerabilities away from home. The remaining schedule hands them multiple clear chances to tilt perception in their favor, with road tests at Kansas State, Iowa State, Houston and BYU and a home date with Arizona among the most consequential opportunities to add marquee wins; taking those chances would reinforce the staff’s best results and quiet questions about consistency while more poor outcomes would deepen the damage already on the résumé. In short, premium scalps and ugly losses coexist on this profile, and how they handle upcoming hostile environments will determine whether the offense is enough to overcome the defensive doubt.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Hofstra101W82-78
11/8Vanderbilt5L105-93
11/11Florida A&M328W97-60
11/14@Texas A&M41W86-74
11/17Oakland133W87-83
11/20(N)Pittsburgh94W77-67
11/25Quinnipiac151W102-91
11/29VMI340W82-57
12/7Towson171W86-61
12/17Mercer144W81-63
12/20FGCU195W102-80
12/23(N)FL Atlantic100W85-80
1/3Kansas23W81-75
1/6@Oklahoma St55L87-76
1/11Cincinnati64W73-72
1/14@Kansas St7751%
1/17Arizona218%
1/20@Iowa St38%
1/24@Colorado7651%
1/27Arizona St8976%
1/31Texas Tech2245%
2/4@Houston1014%
2/8@Cincinnati6447%
2/14West Virginia5968%
2/17TCU5364%
2/21@Utah12268%
2/24@BYU1115%
2/28Baylor4259%
3/3Oklahoma St5566%
3/6@West Virginia5946%