According to ESPN, Rutgers basketball’s loss on Wednesday doesn’t change their season outlook much…or at all
In the midst of a three-game losing streak, Rutgers men’s basketball still has a positive outlook for the remainder of the season. That’s the message from ESPN anyway as the Scarlet Knights are still favored to close out the season strong.
Prior to Wednesday’s loss to Nebraska, the outlook according to ESPN Analytics had Rutgers (16-10, 8-7 Big Ten) favored to win out each of their final six games.
Now, that scenario is no longer in play…however…the outlook is still good for Rutgers closing out the season. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. With five remaining games left, all in the Big Ten, Rutgers will need to get back on track or risk losing out on an NCAA Tournament berth for what would be a program-record third-straight appearance.
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Here is the updated breakdown of how ESPN analytics has Rutgers basketball closing out their season:
February 18 at Wisconsin (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 58.8 percent, was at 62.8 percent)
February 23 vs. Michigan (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 84.6 percent, was at 89.2 percent)
February 26 at Penn State (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 56.5 percent, was at 61.5 percent)
March 2 at Minnesota (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 90.7 percent, was at 90.2 percent)
March 5 against Northwestern (ESPN has Rutgers favored to win at 80.3 percent, was at 83.2 percent)
In four of the five remaining games, the percentage chance from ESPN Analytics went down for Rutgers to win in each game. In one game, at Minnesota, Rutgers saw their chance to improve go up slightly (90.2 percent to 90.7 percent).
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What does Rutgers need to do to earn an NCAA Tournament berth? At least three more regular season wins and a win in the Big Ten Tournament would likely do it. Four wins in the regular season and a respectable loss in the conference tournament and Rutgers would still be projected to go dancing.
