Syracuse and Wake Forest should both be out. Wake Forest beat up on bottom feeders all season because of the unbalanced ACC schedule. Syracuse has was too many horrible losses. Neither could even get out of the first round of the ACC tourney.
Bubble Watch
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Syracuse and Wake Forest should both be out. Wake Forest beat up on bottom feeders all season because of the unbalanced ACC schedule. Syracuse has was too many horrible losses. Neither could even get out of the first round of the ACC tourney.
I don't understand how Wisconsin is still in the top 25 after going 2 - 5 in the last 7 games.
That's a darn good question. Why in the heck did they not drop out? Better yet, how many teams could go 2-5 their last 7 & finish second in their league? Yet they are the 2-seed and everybody will be gushing over Iowa upsetting them again this week like they beat a powerhouse. And then the committee puts 8 big10 teams in after declaring how diluted they've been all season. Classic.
Re: Wake Forest. They're pretty much in now, possibly could move off the First Four area, although that might require an additional win. Yeah, resume isn't that impressive, but even so, no sub-100 losses and RPI is in mid-30s, will finish at least 5 games above .500 and are 10-9 in-conference (including the tournament win) ... that body of work gets an at-large most years.
Meanwhile, USC doing all it can to p*** away a bid, railing UW in the first half.
Meanwhile, USC doing all it can to p*** away a bid, railing UW in the first half.
I read only a few recent posts discussing Saint Mary's. SMC may already have dropped to a 7 seed, and the situation won't improve, since they're done playing until NCAAT .... several teams below them have a chance to leap over, so falling to an 8 or 9 seed isn't out of the question.
NOTE: Update, I totally misspoke about Wake, some reason I thought WF had beaten VT, I was mistaken ... so, still may be in for all reasons I mentioned, except regarding the conference tournament win (and still lodged in First Four instead of a chance to move upward). Sorry!
I keep moving Syracuse up/down a little, I can't get a good read on it. So many red-flags in historic sense: 80 RPI, terrible away from home, horrible non-conference RPI/SOS, four losses to sub-100s ... but also 8-10 vs. top 100, some good top-25 RPI wins, above .500 in ACC (1st or 2nd best league by most standards this season), and such.
Vanderbilt's resume is equally difficult to evaluate, but for totally different reasons. (And Vandy can still help itself, SU cannot).
It looks like Syracuse is in a boat with Vanderbilt, Rhode Island, Illinois State, Cal, Illinois, KSU, Iowa and possibly Houston.
Bubble watch
Needle at standstill - Syracuse losing to Miami has them squarely on the bubble, good wins but bad RPI will make it a tough call for committee.
Wake Forest losing to Virginia Tech now has them sweating it out on Sunday. I think they get in but not 100% sure.
Xavier beating DePaul doesn't do anything but a loss probably would have been the end for them.
USC survived against Washington. Beating UCLA will likely get them in the field.
Needle an inch away from popping - Cal beat Oregon St. which keeps their small hopes alive. Has to beat Utah to keep hopes alive.
Bubble Popped - Clemson losing to Duke has them definitely out.
Needle at standstill - Syracuse losing to Miami has them squarely on the bubble, good wins but bad RPI will make it a tough call for committee.
Wake Forest losing to Virginia Tech now has them sweating it out on Sunday. I think they get in but not 100% sure.
Xavier beating DePaul doesn't do anything but a loss probably would have been the end for them.
USC survived against Washington. Beating UCLA will likely get them in the field.
Needle an inch away from popping - Cal beat Oregon St. which keeps their small hopes alive. Has to beat Utah to keep hopes alive.
Bubble Popped - Clemson losing to Duke has them definitely out.
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Lunardi was talking about both Syracuse and Vandy being in because of the committees recent trend of awarding Top 50 wins regardless of what the rest of their resume looks like.
Call me old fashion, but at some point don't the total amount of losses matter? Teams losing 15 games shouldn't get at large bids imo.
Fair enough but the committee has shown in recent years to not care about losses. They LOVE big wins and even more so they love big wins in one of the best conferences in the country.
Cuse's resume is better than teams like Kansas State, Rhode Island, Illinois etc. who are in the last 4 out and at the end of the day they need 68 teams.
The committee is going to see 10-8 in one of the 2 best conferences in the country with 3 Top 15 wins and 6 top 50 wins. That's probably going to be good enough for the committee to give them a trip to Dayton.
The name on the jersey means a lot for the Cuse.
K-State has to beat Baylor, or it's off to the NIT for the EMAW's.
K-State has to beat Baylor, or it's off to the NIT for the EMAW's.
In all fairness to Johnny Dognuts, he doesn't have a tigerhawk painted on his trailer.
I cant even believe some bubble experts have Illinois anywhere around that "Last 4 In/Out" line. If you cant even finish .500 in this years version of the Big 10 you dont deserve to make it to the tourney.
This year is a prime example why they should go back to 65 or 64 teams. When teams like Illinois and Vanderbilt are being considered things have gotten off track.
Agreed. The fact that we are even discussing the at large prospects of Illinois, Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Kansas State show how awful the bubble truly is. Also how bad the mid majors are as well.
There will definitely be a little bit of an uproar if they get in.
Although I tend to trust Jerry Palm less than Lunardi, Palm thinks Syracuse is NIT-bound ... and he has a witty (and apt) segment in his current Bubble Watch:
"Syracuse finishes the season a woeful 2-11 away from home .... If the tournament could be played on home courts, the Orange would be a No. 1 seed. Oh, wait ... there is one played on home courts: the NIT."
To a team just holding practice, no less.
