NCAA Tournament March Madness

#85 Xavier

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Projection: likely out

Xavier looks like a bubble team because its résumé mixes some resume-building moments with several damaging setbacks: a neutral-site win over West Virginia and road success at Georgetown plus strong home wins against Butler and Providence show it can beat quality opponents, but those bright spots are offset by ugly losses that include a lopsided defeat to Creighton and heavy setbacks at Connecticut and Iowa and an early stumble against Santa Clara. The bad losses hurt especially because road and neutral wins against top foes are limited, so the team’s best results lack the heft needed to erase the blemishes. Upcoming conference games present clear chances to change the narrative with meaningful wins at Seton Hall or on the road at Connecticut and Villanova, but unless Xavier picks up a couple of signature road or neutral victories it will be hard to overcome the cumulative damage and move comfortably back onto the right side of the cut.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3Marist161W66-62
11/6Le Moyne263W74-69
11/10Santa Clara43L87-68
11/14@Iowa21L81-62
11/18Old Dominion238W99-69
11/21(N)Georgia33L78-77
11/23(N)West Virginia58W78-68
11/28TAM C. Christi187W88-67
12/1St Francis PA353W96-74
12/5Cincinnati59W79-74
12/12Missouri St190W75-57
12/17Creighton53L98-57
12/20@Georgetown99W80-77
12/31Connecticut10L90-67
1/3@DePaul102L86-77
1/7@Marquette124L66-65
1/10Providence74W97-84
1/14Butler55W89-75
1/21@Creighton53L94-93
1/24St John's23L88-83
1/28@Seton Hall5126%
1/31DePaul10266%
2/3@Connecticut107%
2/9@St John's2312%
2/14Marquette12473%
2/17Villanova2732%
2/21@Butler5528%
2/24@Providence7434%
2/28Georgetown9964%
3/3Seton Hall5147%
3/7@Villanova2715%