NCAA Tournament March Madness

#81 Stanford

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Projection: likely out

Stanford sits on the outside looking in because its résumé is a blend of bright isolated wins and damaging setbacks that together fail to inspire confidence. The Cardinal boast resume-enhancing moments like home wins over Louisville and North Carolina, neutral-site victories over Minnesota and St. Louis, and a true road win at Virginia Tech, but those are undermined by a lopsided loss at Duke, a road defeat at Virginia and an inexplicable home loss to Notre Dame that stick out badly. Many nonconference wins came against lower-level opponents and provide minimal lift while losses to the likes of Seattle and UNLV add weight in the wrong direction, so the remaining run of road tests at Florida State, Wake Forest, California and Notre Dame and home chances against SMU and Pittsburgh are pivotal; unless Stanford seizes those tougher opportunities and avoids more bad losses, its body of work will struggle to convince a committee to move it into the field.

Date Opponent Ranking Outcome
11/4Portland St153W89-79
11/8Montana151W91-68
11/12Montana St148W77-68
11/18Louisiana331W93-66
11/21Seattle131L77-69
11/27(N)Minnesota82W72-68
11/28(N)St Louis25W78-77
12/1Portland199W94-72
12/7UNLV134L75-74
12/13@San Jose St255W86-82
12/17UT Arlington143W76-60
12/20(N)Colorado80W77-68
12/27CS Northridge210W88-80
12/30Notre Dame79L47-40
1/2Louisville19W80-76
1/7@Virginia Tech55W69-68
1/10@Virginia16L70-55
1/14North Carolina28W95-90
1/17Duke3L80-50
1/24California66L78-66
1/28@Miami FL38L79-70
1/31@Florida St10146%
2/4Clemson2934%
2/7Georgia Tech12976%
2/11@Boston College14560%
2/14@Wake Forest7436%
2/21@California6633%
2/25Pittsburgh10067%
2/28SMU3738%
3/4@Notre Dame7939%
3/7@NC State2415%