NCAA Tournament March Madness

#56 Cincinnati

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Projection: likely out

Cincinnati’s resume is built around an elite defense and a handful of signature wins over Iowa State and Baylor and a solid victory against Colorado, but offensive inconsistency has led to ugly losses at Arizona and Arizona State and multiple neutral-site setbacks to Louisville, Georgia, and Clemson that leave the profile fragile. Tight defeats at Xavier, West Virginia, and UCF and a close home loss to Houston show the Bearcats can compete with quality opponents yet also reveal a pattern of coming up short in the road and neutral environments the committee prizes. The remaining slate presents clear chances to alter the perception with important home dates against West Virginia, UCF, and Oklahoma State and with high-leverage road tests at Houston, Kansas, and Texas Tech. Until Cincinnati converts those opportunities into resume-defining wins the combination of top‑level defense, an uneven offense, and too many damaging results away from home explains why the team sits outside the comfortable at-large group.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3W Carolina260W94-63
11/7Georgia St270W74-64
11/11Dayton85W74-62
11/16Mt St Mary's297W72-55
11/21(N)Louisville19L74-64
11/24NJIT336W94-67
11/26E Michigan223L64-56
12/1Tarleton St182W76-58
12/5@Xavier89L79-74
12/13(N)Georgia34L84-65
12/17Alabama St313W88-51
12/21(N)Clemson29L68-65
12/29Lipscomb150W89-62
1/3Houston6L67-60
1/6@West Virginia58L62-60
1/11@UCF45L73-72
1/14Colorado80W77-68
1/17Iowa St5W79-70
1/21@Arizona1L77-51
1/24@Arizona St78L82-68
1/28Baylor52W67-57
1/31@Houston68%
2/5West Virginia5862%
2/8UCF4553%
2/11@Kansas St8649%
2/15Utah11479%
2/21@Kansas1413%
2/24@Texas Tech1815%
2/28Oklahoma St7264%
3/3BYU1530%
3/7@TCU5134%