Rutgers Basketball's 2023 NCAA Tournament Resume
With Selection Sunday only a few weeks away, Rutgers Basketball (18-12, 10-9 Big Ten) is hoping that they will be headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row for the first time ever in program history.
As of earlier today, the Scarlet Knights are projected to make the NCAA tournament by 90 of the 91 top bracketologists per BracketMatrix.com, with some having them ranked as high as a 7-seed and others as low as a 11-seed.
The Scarlet Knights are currently sitting at 37th overall in the NET Rankings, which is arguably the top used rankings system when determining NCAA Tournament teams.
The system is defined as, "a results-oriented team-ranking metric that combines wins, scoring margin, efficiency and the location of games to churn out a daily hierarchy of the 353 basketball teams".
One of the biggest considerations in determining these NET rankings is each team's quadrant records, which is broken down by the team’s current ranking and where the game took place.
Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-363, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-363
| QUAD 1 | QUAD 2 | QUAD 3 | QUAD 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
5-6 |
4-3 |
2-3 |
7-0 |
According to Bracketologists.com, Rutgers had the 42nd toughest schedule in the nation per the NET Rankings and this has caused the Scarlet Knights to earn some big wins along with suffering some ugly losses.
Here's a quick look at the team's top five wins and losses this season, based on the NET rankings.
| BEST WINS | WORST LOSSES |
|---|---|
|
@ Purdue (5) |
@ Minnesota (230) |
|
vs. Maryland (26) |
vs. Temple (121) -- Neutral site |
|
vs. Indiana (28) |
vs. Nebraska (94) |
|
@ Northwestern (45) |
vs. Seton Hall (74) |
|
@ Penn State (57) |
vs. Michigan (53) |
LOOKING AHEAD
Now the big questions is, has Rutgers done enough this season to earn an at-large bid? I think it's safe to say yes, but let's take a look at last year's last four teams in the 2022 NCAA Tournament to compare.
| TEAM | QUAD 1 | QUAD 2 | QUAD 3 | QUAD 4 | NET RANKING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wyoming |
4-5 |
7-1 |
3-2 |
10-0 |
50 |
|
Indiana |
4-8 |
4-4 |
5-1 |
7-0 |
38 |
|
Rutgers |
6-6 |
3-4 |
4-2 |
5-1 |
77 |
|
Notre Dame |
2-8 |
2-1 |
11-1 |
6-0 |
53 |
--------------------------------------------------------------