NCAA Tournament March Madness

#144 Oakland

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Projected seed: 14 (automatic qualifier)

Oakland's profile reads like a team that challenged itself early and paid for it while also flashing enough offense to keep its resume plausible; trips to Michigan, Purdue and Houston produced some of the ugliest defeats and revealed defensive vulnerabilities, yet neutral and road wins over Lamar and Montana and a big offensive night against Purdue Fort Wayne show this group can put points on the board. Tight road losses at UCF and Eastern Michigan suggest they can compete away from home, but close defeats still leave them short on signature wins. The remainder of the slate gives clear opportunities to change the conversation—a home date with Toledo, a neutral meeting with Michigan State and a series of conference road tests at places like Northern Iowa, Wright State and Northern Kentucky are the kind of games that can add quality victories or do further damage if they stumble. In short, the nonconference punishment makes the ceiling modest without a run of solid road or neutral results in the weeks ahead, while a string of expected conference wins would merely reinforce the view that this is a dangerous mid-major with a narrow path to the big dance.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/3@Michigan1L121-78
11/7@Purdue2L87-77
11/12@Houston8L78-45
11/17@UCF58L87-83
11/21@E Michigan185L97-91
11/24(N)Lamar205W83-68
11/25@Montana195W95-87
12/3PFW257W101-92
12/6Toledo16167%
12/13@Northern Iowa9124%
12/17@N Kentucky17949%
12/20(N)Michigan St115%
12/29@Wright St15444%
1/1@Youngstown St17548%
1/4Robert Morris17469%
1/9Cleveland St30187%
1/11Wright St15466%
1/15@WI Milwaukee22858%
1/18@WI Green Bay27265%
1/21IUPUI33792%
1/24@Detroit31072%
1/28@PFW25763%
2/1N Kentucky17970%
2/4@Cleveland St30172%
2/12Youngstown St17570%
2/15@Robert Morris17448%
2/20WI Green Bay27283%
2/22WI Milwaukee22878%
2/25@IUPUI33780%
2/28Detroit31088%