Men’s Basketball Bubble Watch (2/8)
It was a pretty crazy week in college basketball, but get used to it. As we approach March, there will be many upsets, and many bubbles bursting. There is not much separation between the 8th team in and 8th team out, which makes my job a whole lot tougher. But that’s ok, because I live for March Madness, and coffee keeps me awake during the West Coast games. Check out the 2nd edition of Bubble Watch 2016.
To Note: LSU is not on the bubble because they currently have an automatic bid, being first in the SEC. If they were not first, they would be included in “Last 4 Byes.”
Safe, For Now…. (Last 4 byes)
Florida
Seton Hall
Syracuse
George Washington
Last 4 In:
Florida State (6-5, 16-7)
Good wins: VCU, Florida, Virginia, Clemson
Bad Losses: Hoftsra
Week Ahead: at Syracuse, #12 Miami
Notes: The Noles had a good week, extending their winning streak to four straight. They have two tough ones against Syracuse and Miami coming up, but if they can just get one win out of those two, they will remain on the right side of the Bubble.
Washington (7-4, 15-8)
Good wins: Texas, USC
Bad losses: UC Santa Barbara
Week Ahead: at Utah, at Colorado
Notes: The Huskies survived a scare at home against ASU, and couldn’t secure a signature win against Arizona. They have two huge games coming up that will test them big time.
California (5-5, 15-8)
Good wins: Utah, Arizona, Saint Mary’s
Bad losses: Richmond
Week Ahead: #11 Oregon, Oregon State
Notes: Cal took care of business against Stanford on Saturday. If they can defeat Oregon on Thursday, the Golden Bears are a force to be reckoned with out West.
Cincinnati (7-4, 17-7)
Good wins: George Washington, VCU, UConn
Bad losses: None
Week Ahead: at UCF, East Carolina
Notes: Memphis won’t go down as a bad loss, but the Bearcats did themselves no favors losing to them. What is keeping them in the field is what is next to bad losses: none. However, the committee has shown disrespect to the AAC before, and Cincy currently sits 4th in the standings. They have to move up.
First 4 out:
Clemson (7-4, 14-9)
Good wins: Florida State, Syracuse, Louisville, Duke, Miami, Pittsburgh
Bad losses: UMass, Minnesota, Alabama, Virginia Tech
Week Ahead: Notre Dame, Georgia Tech
Notes: The good wins go on and on for Clemson, but so do the bad losses. They didn’t even have a difficult non-conference schedule, but still managed to lose five of those games. If the Tigers want to get in, they have to win the games they are supposed to win down the stretch.
Butler (5-6, 16-7)
Good wins: Cincinnati, Purdue
Bad losses: None
Week Ahead: at Seton Hall, #5 Xavier
Notes: Butler has a good win against Cincinnati and a signature win against Purdue, with no bad losses. You think they would be in the tourney based on this, but here is the problem: they are ranked 7th out of the 10 teams in their conference. If they can beat both Seton Hall and Xavier this week though, the Bulldogs will no longer be on this page.
Ole Miss (5-5, 15-8)
Good wins: Vanderbilt
Bad losses: George Mason, Mississippi State
Week Ahead: at Florida, Arkansas
Notes: Ole Miss lacks good wins, but a victory against a fellow bubble team in Vandy could prove to be very important come March. If they can get a win against another bubble team in Florida on Tuesday, they may catapult to the top of this page.
BYU (8-4, 17-8)
Good wins: Gonzaga
Bad losses: Long Beach State, Harvard, Portland, Pacific
Week Ahead: at San Francisco, at Santa Clara
Notes: Last week I said that if BYU wanted to get into the tourney with an at-large bid, they couldn’t afford another bad loss. You know what they did next? Lose to a 6-15 Pacific team. The only reason the Cougars are still in the First 4 Out is because Marquette also lost, and I really can’t put a 10-loss UCLA team in here just yet. If the Cougars can beat Gonzaga again though, you never know.
Next 4 Out:
UCLA
Wisconsin
Marquette
Vanderbilt
