NCAA Tournament March Madness

#289 Jacksonville

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Projection: need to automatically qualify

Jacksonville must win the Atlantic Sun tournament because its résumé offers almost no signature wins and is burdened by damaging losses away and at neutral sites. The team’s best moments — a road victory at VMI and a neutral-site win over Bethune-Cookman along with home wins such as West Georgia and Eastern Kentucky and a road triumph at North Alabama — are overwhelmed by blowouts at Texas A&M, Florida State and Miami and an ugly defeat at George Mason plus a neutral loss to Pacific that show the roster has not fared well when asked to beat strong opponents away from home. With the nonconference window closed and only league games remaining against Lipscomb, FGCU, Queens, Stetson, North Florida and Austin Peay and a road swing to West Georgia and FGCU available to polish the case, there are few realistic ways to manufacture the kind of quality victory the selection panel rewards. Absent a clear, high-end win to offset the lopsided setbacks, the only reliable path for Jacksonville into the national tournament runs through claiming the conference’s automatic spot.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Miami FL38L86-69
11/11@High Point94L85-64
11/15@VMI354W69-67
11/18@George Mason76L79-57
11/24(N)Bethune-Cookman244W69-64
11/25(N)Pacific109L68-53
12/2Florida A&M314W85-82
12/6@Florida Intl191L88-65
12/14@Texas A&M33L112-75
12/17@Florida A&M314L72-65
12/22@Florida St101L87-63
1/1@Lipscomb150L76-57
1/3@Austin Peay163L71-68
1/8Queens NC188L77-51
1/10West Georgia329W75-43
1/15@Cent Arkansas184L62-60
1/17@North Alabama334W90-68
1/22Bellarmine290L77-70
1/24E Kentucky262W81-76
1/29Lipscomb15032%
1/31FGCU22847%
2/5@Queens NC18821%
2/7@West Georgia32950%
2/12@Stetson32047%
2/14North Florida34075%
2/19@FGCU22826%
2/21Austin Peay16334%
2/26Stetson32069%
2/28@North Florida34055%