Bubble Watch
AS OF FEBRUARY 26, 2009
Bubble Breakdown and Comparison
Welcome back to the Bubble Watch. As we stated a couple of weeks ago, it will look at every team in the at-large mix hoping to grab one of the last spots for the NCAA Tournament. As the season enters its final two and a half weeks, the at-large picture is becoming slightly more clear – albeit very, very slightly. Teams are actually playing themselves into the Big Dance, while others are doing their best to avoid hearing their name called on Selection Sunday. Still, there are plenty of teams with a shot at getting one of the last few at-large invitations to the field. There is a lot of basketball left to played, though. According to the numbers, there are 12 bids still up for grabs, with 27 teams vying for them:
Locks: 24
Automatic bids from the other conferences: 20
44 Locks Overall
ACC (4): North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Wake Forest
Big East (5): Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Villanova, Marquette
Big Ten (3): Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois
Big 12 (3): Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri
Pac-10 (3): Washington, Arizona State, UCLA
SEC (1): LSU
Atlantic-10 (1): Xavier
Conference-USA (1): Memphis
Horizon (1): Butler
Mountain West (1): Utah
West Coast (1): Gonzaga
One-Bid Conferences (21): America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Ivy, MAC, MAAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WAC
Teams that need to keep winning to avoid the bubble – these bids are not up for grabs yet (9): Florida State, Boston College**, West Virginia, Syracuse, Ohio State, Minnesota**, Texas, California, Arizona**
** In the most precarious position of the group
Note: Utah State, Davidson and Siena are not included, as they are the current leaders in their respective conferences
RANKINGS OF BUBBLE TEAMS
1. Tennessee
2. South Carolina
3. Wisconsin
4. Dayton
5. Kentucky
6. UNLV
7. BYU
8. Florida
9. Saint Mary's
10. Temple
11. Penn State
12. Providence
13. Virginia Tech
14. Maryland
15. Oklahoma State
16. Cincinnati
17. UAB
18. Creighton
19. Miami (Fl.)
20. USC
21. San Diego State
22. Texas A&M
23. Kansas State
24. Michigan
25. Notre Dame
26. Rhode Island
27. New Mexico
Bubble Breakdown and Comparison
Welcome back to the Bubble Watch. As we stated a couple of weeks ago, it will look at every team in the at-large mix hoping to grab one of the last spots for the NCAA Tournament. As the season enters its final two and a half weeks, the at-large picture is becoming slightly more clear – albeit very, very slightly. Teams are actually playing themselves into the Big Dance, while others are doing their best to avoid hearing their name called on Selection Sunday. Still, there are plenty of teams with a shot at getting one of the last few at-large invitations to the field. There is a lot of basketball left to played, though. According to the numbers, there are 12 bids still up for grabs, with 27 teams vying for them:
Locks: 24
Automatic bids from the other conferences: 20
44 Locks Overall
ACC (4): North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Wake Forest
Big East (5): Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Villanova, Marquette
Big Ten (3): Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois
Big 12 (3): Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri
Pac-10 (3): Washington, Arizona State, UCLA
SEC (1): LSU
Atlantic-10 (1): Xavier
Conference-USA (1): Memphis
Horizon (1): Butler
Mountain West (1): Utah
West Coast (1): Gonzaga
One-Bid Conferences (21): America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Ivy, MAC, MAAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WAC
Teams that need to keep winning to avoid the bubble – these bids are not up for grabs yet (9): Florida State, Boston College**, West Virginia, Syracuse, Ohio State, Minnesota**, Texas, California, Arizona**
** In the most precarious position of the group
Note: Utah State, Davidson and Siena are not included, as they are the current leaders in their respective conferences
RANKINGS OF BUBBLE TEAMS
1. Tennessee
2. South Carolina
3. Wisconsin
4. Dayton
5. Kentucky
6. UNLV
7. BYU
8. Florida
9. Saint Mary's
10. Temple
11. Penn State
12. Providence
13. Virginia Tech
14. Maryland
15. Oklahoma State
16. Cincinnati
17. UAB
18. Creighton
19. Miami (Fl.)
20. USC
21. San Diego State
22. Texas A&M
23. Kansas State
24. Michigan
25. Notre Dame
26. Rhode Island
27. New Mexico
posted by Jeff at 10:00 AM
3 Comments:
How the hell can you not have South Carolina on there?
Because they are as far removed from being considered a basketball program as they can be.
I have South Carolina as the second-ranked bubble team on the list -- where would you like them to be?
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