NCAA Tournament March Madness

#112 Northern Iowa

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Projection: likely out

Northern Iowa’s resume feels borderline because its résumé is built around a handful of encouraging moments but also a string of damaging setbacks; the neutral-site victory over Loyola-Chicago and a road win at UC Irvine show they can win away from home, and home victories over Furman and Murray State are useful, yet those highlights are offset by ugly losses such as defeats to Tulsa and Wichita State, a cold road trip to St. Mary’s, and damaging home and road losses to midmajor foes like Illinois Chicago, Bradley and Belmont. The defense has been the team’s strength while the offense has sputtered at times, which helps explain why their good wins don’t carry as much weight, and although the remaining slate includes several favorable home dates to bulk up the win column there are only a couple of true opportunities on the road to add a resume-changing victory. Without a clear signature win to erase the bad losses the committee will view this profile as short of what it typically wants for an at-large bid.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/6CS Northridge210W86-57
11/9S Dakota St192W65-58
11/14Furman166W70-54
11/18N Illinois301W70-57
11/22@UC Irvine118W70-69
11/25(N)Loyola-Chicago318W72-51
11/26(N)Tulsa57L63-60
12/6Wichita St96L74-69
12/13Oakland121W75-63
12/17@IL Chicago136W60-54
12/22@St Mary's CA36L63-58
12/29Valparaiso154W58-48
1/1Indiana St201W75-66
1/4@Evansville283W62-48
1/7Belmont67L78-65
1/10@Bradley144L75-69
1/13IL Chicago136L69-61
1/17@Valparaiso154L54-44
1/21@Illinois St84L59-54
1/24Murray St90W81-76
1/28@S Illinois124L65-50
1/31Evansville28390%
2/6Bradley14470%
2/9@Murray St9032%
2/12@Belmont6723%
2/15Drake16073%
2/18@Indiana St20161%
2/21S Illinois12465%
2/25Illinois St8451%
3/1@Drake16052%