2019 NCAA Tournament Bubble

[adam914]

St Johns is definitely going to benefit from the soft bubble this year.

[rambone 78]

St Johns is definitely going to benefit from the soft bubble this year.

Good thing for them they have deemphasized the last 10 games thing.....and they certainly aren't "gaining steam".....

It's going to be to really interesting to hear the committee try and explain why some teams were left out...since nobody seems to know exactly what the criteria is with the NET system.

They will make shit up to try to justify whatever they do. When you think about it, what has changed in that regard?

[ramster]

Kevin MAC weigh in.....

https://www.providencejournal.com/sport ... s-underway

[reef]

If Xavier wins the next 2 to finish 10-8 conf then loses in the BE final are they in ???

[ramster]

With the upset of NET 4, 8th Ranked AP Houston, UCF has likely punched their ticket to the NCAA and could possibly enter the Top 25 when announced today which would put the AAC with 3 Nationally ranked teams including Houston, Cincinnati and UCF.

Two games ago, UCF destroyed SMU by the score of 95-48. They are a very powerful team and the magnitude of that win made me think they had a shot at defeating Houston. Houston had the longest Home Court Winning Streak in the country until the UCF loss

Cincinnati has won 5 straight and 13 of their last 14 with a loss only at Houston. They just beat Memphis 71-69 on their home court which was a very important win for them.

Temple and Memphis with work to do but both are capable of upsets in the AAC Tournament.

AAC now the 6th ranked Conference in RPI (NET does not rank conferences.. at least not publicly)

13.png

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2019/rpi-live

[ramster]

IN BE remaining games for teams with work to do:

Tuesday:
Xavier @ Butler

Wednesday:
Marquette @ Seton Hall
PC @ Creighton
Georgetown @ DePaul

Saturday:
Butler @ PC
Villanova @ Seton Hall
Georgetown @ Marquette
St John's @ Xavier
DePaul @ Creighton

Picture15.png

[ramster]

Big win for Bobby Hurley's ASU @ Oregon State last night 74-71 after being down 7 at the half

Hurley has now won 4 of last 5 down the stretch. ASU was underdog by 2 points

Picture16.png

[ramster]

Lots of changes to Top 25 this week - that's why they play the games
3 AAC Teams in the Top 25 now

• Houston drops to 12th from 8th

• Cincinnati up to 20th from 23rd

• UCF enters the poll at 25th after having zero votes last week - winning @ Houston was huge for them. 1st time ranked since 2010-11 season

2 Big East Teams

• Marquette drops to 16th from 10th

• Villanova re-enters the poll at 23rd

Non P5 Teams, AAC, BE Teams

• Gonzaga remains at #1

• Nevada drops from #12 to #17

• Buffalo up from #21 to #19

• Wofford up from #24 to #22

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... -rest-poll

[ramster]

Article from Mike Vacarro back on January 27

Since this article St John's has gone 5-5 having lost 3 of their last 4 games. This makes Saturday's game @ Xavier a big one heading into the BE Conf Tournament

https://nypost.com/2019/01/27/the-chris ... collapses/

[reef]

I watched that ASU game they pulled it out down the stretch

[rambone 78]

ASU's NET is 69.....if they get in....that will tell us that this new system needs some serious tweaking.

[reef]

Oklahoma if loses last 2 v Kansas and Kansas State woukd finish 6-12 in conference

Texas lost its 14th game tonight

TCU now 6-11 in conference

[rambone 78]

Article on espn.com about the bubble getting smaller.....bid thieves could eliminate several of these teams that are close to the cut line....

I'd love to see it....some of these P5's and BE teams simply don't belong. Whether the bid thieves deserve to be in isn't the point....they shouldn't be rewarding teams with 6-12 conference records...like TCU and Oklahoma.

[Ramulous]

To echo Rambone.....Kevin Mac discussed a few Power teams getting consideration although well under .500 in their conferences...

....I agree with old friend/enemy Jim Donaldson....under .500 in your conference should mean no at-large berth....

[rambone 78]

Wait until next season and beyond....more P5's will adopt the NC St. method.....play only stiffs OOC and win by a lot...or just play each other...and go to 20 game conference schedules....and make it even harder for mid majors to schedule well OOC....and have even less opportunities for good wins.

Will the NCAA tweak the NET to discourage P5's from loading up on cupcakes? Not holding my breath here.....

[rjsuperfly66]

....I agree with old friend/enemy Jim Donaldson....under .500 in your conference should mean no at-large berth....

Then quit complaining and win the games on your schedule and it won't be a problem.

Reags from Barstool just did a piece on this last week. Here were some quotes:

"It's incredibly stupid. That may be a compliment. That's how dumb this idea is it. In a simple, one word answer, it's impossible to come up with this idea because of, oh, I don't know, unbalanced schedules. Why are we going to reward the Pac-12 and going 10-8 in there vs 8-10 in a much better ACC? Well, we aren't. But in this hypothetical, why would we? That 10-8 Pac-12 team isn't better than the 8-10 ACC team. The goal of the NCAA Tournament is to determine a champion with 68 teams. Here's the thing. 32 of them are auto bids.... After that the goal is to get the next best 36 teams into the NCAA Tournament. Can we stop pretending like Vermont would rather have the round robin chance against the Big 12 during the regular season? I bet Oklahoma would love to play in the America East Tournament and get the auto bid...This year we'll likely see more mid-majors in the NCAA Tournament. Not because of some change, but because they are better this year. Wofford, Buffalo, Lipscomb, etc., they are all on the bubble or in the NCAA Tournament because they deserve to be there. That's the goal of this thing. Stop trying to come up with some limit of who deserves in without realizing the incredible unbalanced schedules across the country PLUS the fact there are auto bids for every team to get in."

Will the NCAA tweak the NET to discourage P5's from loading up on cupcakes? Not holding my breath here.....

This might be the most overblown narrative of the entire season. Because one team in NCAA Tournament consideration (North Carolina St) has a high NET primarily because of their MOV, that every P5 is loading up on cupcakes. Even for NC St, they are 7-7 against Q1 and Q2 opponents. They have a BPI of 23, a KenPom of 34, and a Sagarin of 27. The one outlier is the currently non-existent RPI (92). However, I would offer this newsflash: Oklahoma is only in tournament consideration because they played no cupcakes this season. They've played 12 Q1 games (2 remaining), 8 Q2 games, 9 Q3 games, and 0 Q4 games. Even their Q3 games, you'd look at and say "Wow." Included in there were games against USC, Oklahoma St., Wichita St., Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Vanderbilt. They've played an extremely tough schedule which is the only reason they are in the mix. Most bubble teams are in a similar position. They didn't just load up and pound Q3/Q4 teams. Teams should not be punished for playing in competitive conferences. Other conferences should hold their teams to higher standards. VCU is only in bubble discussion because they have easily navigated Candy Land. Other teams have the ability to do the same thing. NC St might have destroyed some cupcakes during OOC, VCU has had to destroy the cupcakes in conference. Over the course of a 32 game season, VCU has played 10 Q3 games and 9 Q4 games, with 1 Q3 and 1 Q4 remaining in the regular season. North Carolina St has played 4 Q3 games and 10 Q4 games (1 Q3 game left). Let's apply the narrative both ways.

[Da_Process_Survivor]

Then quit complaining and win the games on your schedule and it won't be a problem.

maybe the teams that cant manage to finish .500 in conference should take that advice instead......

[rjsuperfly66]

Then quit complaining and win the games on your schedule and it won't be a problem.

maybe the teams that cant manage to finish .500 in conference should take that advice instead......

The problem is that the fans of non-P5 schools want the best of both worlds.
They want the P5 school to play a very hard OOC and a very hard conference schedule, while they want the hard OOC but only because they acknowledge the very weak conference schedule.
If you put VCU in the ACC and give them Pittsburgh's schedule, they would be favored in 8 out of 18 games.
Instead they are sitting at 14-2 in conference and should win the conference tournament barring an upset.
Under both scenarios, they should be a tournament team.
However now you are saying if they were in the ACC and went 8-10, they only deserve an auto-bid.
But frankly, the scenario of ".500 in conference" will never happen for two reasons:
1) It completely minimizes the OOC even more.
2) It doesn't account for injuries, etc.

[Seawrightspostgame]

Go Rhody

[Billyboy78]

Go Rhody

Hey, where's PC on that list?

[RF1]

Go Rhody

Hey, where's PC on that list?

The Friars only have four NCAA wins since then. Three in their 1997 Elite-8 run under Gillen and one under Cooley in a 2016 Dayton play-in round game.

URI won their first games in the 1993, 2017, 2018 tournaments and three games in their 1998 Elite-8 run.

[Billyboy78]

Go Rhody

Hey, where's PC on that list?

The Friars only have four NCAA wins since then. Three in their 1997 Elite-8 run under Gillen and one under Cooley in a 2016 Dayton play-in round game.

I know. I was being sarcastic as always.

[ramster]

....I agree with old friend/enemy Jim Donaldson....under .500 in your conference should mean no at-large berth....

Then quit complaining and win the games on your schedule and it won't be a problem.

Reags from Barstool just did a piece on this last week. Here were some quotes:

"It's incredibly stupid. That may be a compliment. That's how dumb this idea is it. In a simple, one word answer, it's impossible to come up with this idea because of, oh, I don't know, unbalanced schedules. Why are we going to reward the Pac-12 and going 10-8 in there vs 8-10 in a much better ACC? Well, we aren't. But in this hypothetical, why would we? That 10-8 Pac-12 team isn't better than the 8-10 ACC team. The goal of the NCAA Tournament is to determine a champion with 68 teams. Here's the thing. 32 of them are auto bids.... After that the goal is to get the next best 36 teams into the NCAA Tournament. Can we stop pretending like Vermont would rather have the round robin chance against the Big 12 during the regular season? I bet Oklahoma would love to play in the America East Tournament and get the auto bid...This year we'll likely see more mid-majors in the NCAA Tournament. Not because of some change, but because they are better this year. Wofford, Buffalo, Lipscomb, etc., they are all on the bubble or in the NCAA Tournament because they deserve to be there. That's the goal of this thing. Stop trying to come up with some limit of who deserves in without realizing the incredible unbalanced schedules across the country PLUS the fact there are auto bids for every team to get in."

Will the NCAA tweak the NET to discourage P5's from loading up on cupcakes? Not holding my breath here.....

This might be the most overblown narrative of the entire season. Because one team in NCAA Tournament consideration (North Carolina St) has a high NET primarily because of their MOV, that every P5 is loading up on cupcakes. Even for NC St, they are 7-7 against Q1 and Q2 opponents. They have a BPI of 23, a KenPom of 34, and a Sagarin of 27. The one outlier is the currently non-existent RPI (92). However, I would offer this newsflash: Oklahoma is only in tournament consideration because they played no cupcakes this season. They've played 12 Q1 games (2 remaining), 8 Q2 games, 9 Q3 games, and 0 Q4 games. Even their Q3 games, you'd look at and say "Wow." Included in there were games against USC, Oklahoma St., Wichita St., Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Vanderbilt. They've played an extremely tough schedule which is the only reason they are in the mix . Most bubble teams are in a similar position. They didn't just load up and pound Q3/Q4 teams. Teams should not be punished for playing in competitive conferences. Other conferences should hold their teams to higher standards. VCU is only in bubble discussion because they have easily navigated Candy Land. Other teams have the ability to do the same thing. NC St might have destroyed some cupcakes during OOC, VCU has had to destroy the cupcakes in conference. Over the course of a 32 game season, VCU has played 10 Q3 games and 9 Q4 games, with 1 Q3 and 1 Q4 remaining in the regular season. North Carolina St has played 4 Q3 games and 10 Q4 games (1 Q3 game left). Let's apply the narrative both ways.

Might do better in your example than to use Oklahoma - "Don't do it to him like that Fatts". Many felt Oklahoma should have not gotten in the Tournament and then they got beat by a URI Team from "Candy Land"

[rambone 78]

Mid majors who have gotten at large bids have done pretty well compared to those P5 bubble teams that have gotten in . At least lately.

I know that's a very general statement....but overall true.

To me it's all about the opportunity to play Q1 games....the P5's play many each season....the mids do not, especially in the OOC....and a school like URI gets very few chances since most of their conference sucks any given year.

It's a 2 tier NCAA world....and that's what the big boys want.....and we're on the wrong side of it.

[ramster]

Why not just take away the Conference Auto Bids? Most of those teams don't have the NET Ranking to deserve to be there anyway?

I fact just have a P5 Basketball Conference and then all the rest. Just like FBS and FCS in football.

[rambone 78]

If college BB ends up spilt into 2 groups like FBS and FCS in football...then we are screwed.

Who will care then? It will be like the NIT, and who cares much about that?

The very term March Madness will cease to exist...and there goes the allure of the entire thing.

Without Cinderellas…..me no watch anymore. And millions of others too.

The NCAA can and does stupid quite often...but that would be by far the dumbest thing they could ever do.

[ramster]

If college BB ends up spilt into 2 groups like FBS and FCS in football...then we are screwed.

Who will care then? It will be like the NIT, and who cares much about that?

The very term March Madness will cease to exist...and there goes the allure of the entire thing.

Without Cinderellas…..me no watch anymore. And millions of others too.

The NCAA can and does stupid quite often...but that would be by far the dumbest thing they could ever do.

I agree with you Rambone. I think the NCAA, P5 and Big East Elite think they should have more than their fair share of teams in the Tournament.
It’s a shame because it’s the Cinderella’s that make this Tournament do immensely popular among office workers, students, etc. keep the Conference winners in, and keep a fair share of mid majors in. Look at what Lipscome, Furman, etc did in OOC just this year!!

NCAA should not bite the hand that feeds it.

[rambone 78]

Our program relies on money from the NCAA tournament and from the boosters to survive.

If we were in a 2nd tier tourney, that money would almost completely dry up.

Interest would disappear also. Bye bye ticket revenue.

It's really not worth thinking any more about the ramifications because they are so bad.

[rjsuperfly66]

....I agree with old friend/enemy Jim Donaldson....under .500 in your conference should mean no at-large berth....

Then quit complaining and win the games on your schedule and it won't be a problem.

Reags from Barstool just did a piece on this last week. Here were some quotes:

"It's incredibly stupid. That may be a compliment. That's how dumb this idea is it. In a simple, one word answer, it's impossible to come up with this idea because of, oh, I don't know, unbalanced schedules. Why are we going to reward the Pac-12 and going 10-8 in there vs 8-10 in a much better ACC? Well, we aren't. But in this hypothetical, why would we? That 10-8 Pac-12 team isn't better than the 8-10 ACC team. The goal of the NCAA Tournament is to determine a champion with 68 teams. Here's the thing. 32 of them are auto bids.... After that the goal is to get the next best 36 teams into the NCAA Tournament. Can we stop pretending like Vermont would rather have the round robin chance against the Big 12 during the regular season? I bet Oklahoma would love to play in the America East Tournament and get the auto bid...This year we'll likely see more mid-majors in the NCAA Tournament. Not because of some change, but because they are better this year. Wofford, Buffalo, Lipscomb, etc., they are all on the bubble or in the NCAA Tournament because they deserve to be there. That's the goal of this thing. Stop trying to come up with some limit of who deserves in without realizing the incredible unbalanced schedules across the country PLUS the fact there are auto bids for every team to get in."

Will the NCAA tweak the NET to discourage P5's from loading up on cupcakes? Not holding my breath here.....

This might be the most overblown narrative of the entire season. Because one team in NCAA Tournament consideration (North Carolina St) has a high NET primarily because of their MOV, that every P5 is loading up on cupcakes. Even for NC St, they are 7-7 against Q1 and Q2 opponents. They have a BPI of 23, a KenPom of 34, and a Sagarin of 27. The one outlier is the currently non-existent RPI (92). However, I would offer this newsflash: Oklahoma is only in tournament consideration because they played no cupcakes this season. They've played 12 Q1 games (2 remaining), 8 Q2 games, 9 Q3 games, and 0 Q4 games. Even their Q3 games, you'd look at and say "Wow." Included in there were games against USC, Oklahoma St., Wichita St., Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Vanderbilt. They've played an extremely tough schedule which is the only reason they are in the mix . Most bubble teams are in a similar position. They didn't just load up and pound Q3/Q4 teams. Teams should not be punished for playing in competitive conferences. Other conferences should hold their teams to higher standards. VCU is only in bubble discussion because they have easily navigated Candy Land. Other teams have the ability to do the same thing. NC St might have destroyed some cupcakes during OOC, VCU has had to destroy the cupcakes in conference. Over the course of a 32 game season, VCU has played 10 Q3 games and 9 Q4 games, with 1 Q3 and 1 Q4 remaining in the regular season. North Carolina St has played 4 Q3 games and 10 Q4 games (1 Q3 game left). Let's apply the narrative both ways.

Might do better in your example than to use Oklahoma - "Don't do it to him like that Fatts". Many felt Oklahoma should have not gotten in the Tournament and then they got beat by a URI Team from "Candy Land"

I think you are doing a great disservice to URI from last year to compare URI and VCU. Last year, URI was in a very good spot during the OOC. Yes, the conference was easier, but the team was locked in before conference play. Very different from VCU who was 7-4 with a limited resume and has only solidified their place in the tournament by an extended run against mediocre competition.

[ramster]

Then quit complaining and win the games on your schedule and it won't be a problem.

Reags from Barstool just did a piece on this last week. Here were some quotes:

"It's incredibly stupid. That may be a compliment. That's how dumb this idea is it. In a simple, one word answer, it's impossible to come up with this idea because of, oh, I don't know, unbalanced schedules. Why are we going to reward the Pac-12 and going 10-8 in there vs 8-10 in a much better ACC? Well, we aren't. But in this hypothetical, why would we? That 10-8 Pac-12 team isn't better than the 8-10 ACC team. The goal of the NCAA Tournament is to determine a champion with 68 teams. Here's the thing. 32 of them are auto bids.... After that the goal is to get the next best 36 teams into the NCAA Tournament. Can we stop pretending like Vermont would rather have the round robin chance against the Big 12 during the regular season? I bet Oklahoma would love to play in the America East Tournament and get the auto bid...This year we'll likely see more mid-majors in the NCAA Tournament. Not because of some change, but because they are better this year. Wofford, Buffalo, Lipscomb, etc., they are all on the bubble or in the NCAA Tournament because they deserve to be there. That's the goal of this thing. Stop trying to come up with some limit of who deserves in without realizing the incredible unbalanced schedules across the country PLUS the fact there are auto bids for every team to get in."



This might be the most overblown narrative of the entire season. Because one team in NCAA Tournament consideration (North Carolina St) has a high NET primarily because of their MOV, that every P5 is loading up on cupcakes. Even for NC St, they are 7-7 against Q1 and Q2 opponents. They have a BPI of 23, a KenPom of 34, and a Sagarin of 27. The one outlier is the currently non-existent RPI (92). However, I would offer this newsflash: Oklahoma is only in tournament consideration because they played no cupcakes this season. They've played 12 Q1 games (2 remaining), 8 Q2 games, 9 Q3 games, and 0 Q4 games. Even their Q3 games, you'd look at and say "Wow." Included in there were games against USC, Oklahoma St., Wichita St., Notre Dame, West Virginia, and Vanderbilt. They've played an extremely tough schedule which is the only reason they are in the mix . Most bubble teams are in a similar position. They didn't just load up and pound Q3/Q4 teams. Teams should not be punished for playing in competitive conferences. Other conferences should hold their teams to higher standards. VCU is only in bubble discussion because they have easily navigated Candy Land. Other teams have the ability to do the same thing. NC St might have destroyed some cupcakes during OOC, VCU has had to destroy the cupcakes in conference. Over the course of a 32 game season, VCU has played 10 Q3 games and 9 Q4 games, with 1 Q3 and 1 Q4 remaining in the regular season. North Carolina St has played 4 Q3 games and 10 Q4 games (1 Q3 game left). Let's apply the narrative both ways.

Might do better in your example than to use Oklahoma - "Don't do it to him like that Fatts". Many felt Oklahoma should have not gotten in the Tournament and then they got beat by a URI Team from "Candy Land"

I think you are doing a great disservice to URI from last year to compare URI and VCU. Last year, URI was in a very good spot during the OOC. Yes, the conference was easier, but the team was locked in before conference play. Very different from VCU who was 7-4 with a limited resume and has only solidified their place in the tournament by an extended run against mediocre competition.

You miss my point. Oklahoma did not deserve to be invited last year, URI quickly showed that. Now you are back using Oklahoma as an example again. Suggest you pick another team to build your case

[rjsuperfly66]

I don’t get the correlation - URI was a strong at-large who was taken to OT by that Oklahoma team you say didn’t belong in the tournament last year. The goal of the tournament is to get the best teams in there. Didn’t see anything from the URI-Oklahoma matchup from last season to suggest Oklahoma was thrown a bone, unless you are suggesting URI wasn’t that good last season.

[ramster]

Oklahoma lost.
They got their chance and blew it with the #3 Pick in the NBA
This year you are again promoting Oklahoma - same song
Oklahoma is 6-10
They have games against Ranked #13 Kansas tonight at home and then Saturday at #18 Kansas State
Let's see if they end up 6-12 in the conference and see people still think they should be in the Tournament

Still lot's of games to play. Still need to see how the NET shows it's mettle as teams are selected.
Still too early.

[steviep123]

I don’t get the correlation - URI was a strong at-large who was taken to OT by that Oklahoma team you say didn’t belong in the tournament last year. The goal of the tournament is to get the best teams in there. Didn’t see anything from the URI-Oklahoma matchup from last season to suggest Oklahoma was thrown a bone, unless you are suggesting URI wasn’t that good last season.

Oklahoma (or any other team) can still be undeserving of a bid and also take a team that is deserving of a bid (and probably a higher seed than 7) to OT. Both can be true at the same time.

[rjsuperfly66]

I don’t get the correlation - URI was a strong at-large who was taken to OT by that Oklahoma team you say didn’t belong in the tournament last year. The goal of the tournament is to get the best teams in there. Didn’t see anything from the URI-Oklahoma matchup from last season to suggest Oklahoma was thrown a bone, unless you are suggesting URI wasn’t that good last season.

Oklahoma (or any other team) can still be undeserving of a bid and also take a team that is deserving of a bid (and probably a higher seed than 7) to OT. Both can be true at the same time.

Of course that can be true. I was responding to Ramster who responded in two separate posts that URI quickly proved that Oklahoma did not deserve a bid and in another they proved it because Oklahoma lost. I don’t know what the outcome of their matchup had to do with Oklahoma’s tournament bid.

The challenge is that now more than ever, teams are not seizing bids. Rather than winning games and proving their worth, so many teams are losing 9-13 games and trying to play the resume game to compare. Dayton goes 3-8 against Q1/Q2 teams with 2 bad losses and it’s the systems fault. Same could certainly be said for a team like Oklahoma. The difference is, if the goal is to put the best teams in the tournament, you have to place Oklahoma into Dayton’s schedule and try to project, and vice versa.

I don’t know, just look at the bubble right now and tell me one team on the “outside” who could miss the tournament that would be an injustice because they built a strong enough resume for inclusion.

[Ramulous]

My gripe is that the Big teams don't do home and homes with mid-majors...they are mostly neutral site games or buy home games.....makes it hard for mid-majors to boost their computer scores when you are going on the road and getting beat by Big teams in the non-con....when does Syracuse travel to play anyone non-con??

[rjsuperfly66]

But why is it Syracuse’s responsibility to have to play on the road in out of conference games? Syracuse’s responsibility needs to be “what do we need to do to play a balanced 31 game schedule?” Syracuse has had road games at Duke, at North Carolina, at Virginia Tech, at Clemson, at North Carolina St, and at Ohio St. Why is it their responsibility to go give teams in weaker conferences more home opportunities when those schools play weaker conference schedules?

[ramster]

I don’t get the correlation - URI was a strong at-large who was taken to OT by that Oklahoma team you say didn’t belong in the tournament last year. The goal of the tournament is to get the best teams in there. Didn’t see anything from the URI-Oklahoma matchup from last season to suggest Oklahoma was thrown a bone, unless you are suggesting URI wasn’t that good last season.

Oklahoma (or any other team) can still be undeserving of a bid and also take a team that is deserving of a bid (and probably a higher seed than 7) to OT. Both can be true at the same time.

Of course that can be true. I was responding to Ramster who responded in two separate posts that URI quickly proved that Oklahoma did not deserve a bid and in another they proved it because Oklahoma lost. I don’t know what the outcome of their matchup had to do with Oklahoma’s tournament bid.

The challenge is that now more than ever, teams are not seizing bids. Rather than winning games and proving their worth, so many teams are losing 9-13 games and trying to play the resume game to compare. Dayton goes 3-8 against Q1/Q2 teams with 2 bad losses and it’s the systems fault. Same could certainly be said for a team like Oklahoma. The difference is, if the goal is to put the best teams in the tournament, you have to place Oklahoma into Dayton’s schedule and try to project, and vice versa.

I don’t know, just look at the bubble right now and tell me one team on the “outside” who could miss the tournament that would be an injustice because they built a strong enough resume for inclusion.

RJ,
It happened URI beat Oklahoma but the point is not whether it was URI or any other Mid Major, FSCs is Oklahoma lost. Many were saying Oklahoma did not belong in.
Now here we are AGAIN talking up Oklahoma and they are 6-10 in conference and they have not even played their last two games which they could also easily lose.

It’s too early.
Let’s see what happens on Selection Sunday - we will see how the much ballyhooed NET plays out in the selection process. Going to be interesting

Agree with Ramulous, P5 teams rarely play mid majors on the road. Only Neutral. NET I believe was going to consider this. We will see in a very short time.

[Ramulous]

It's not their responsibility.....they are doing what is best for them......I think the NCAA can exert more control and make them do it....they set the maximum number of games don't they? Syracuse wants to play 5 more so they can, right? It is good for their bottom line.

[The Dude]

URI might climb into the bubble conversation after this huge win against St. Joes!
- said no one.

[rambone 78]

URI might climb into the bubble conversation after this huge win against St. Joes!
- said no one.

We'd be on the bubble if the NCAA tourney had 128 teams in it. Or 132.

Maybe we could be in the play in game......ho ho

[reef]

Oklahoma wins tonight which probably clinches themselves a win

Big bubble wins for VCU- I think is in now 24 wins
Minnesota
Utah state

Big losses for Xavier and Alabama

[rjsuperfly66]

It's an interesting year for the bubble because closing in on a number of potential bid stealing conferences ... The Atlantic 10, The Mountain West, The MAC, The Ohio Valley, The Pac-12, The Southern, The West Coast, those all have the chances of stealing a 2nd (or in the case of the MWC and Pac-12, a 3rd bid). Hard for anyone near the bubble to feel safe right now given all that potential theft -- St. John's, Florida, NC St, Arizona St., Seton Hall, TCU, Clemson, Alabama, Temple, and Creighton -- they should all feel the heat. This Selection Sunday actually has the possibility of being pretty interesting. The last 2 years, it felt pretty solidified what teams would be in the bracket, maybe more of a question of where they ended up being seeded. This year, there is the potential for a number of teams to feel like they belong. Even teams like Texas, Ohio St., Minnesota, and Utah St could feel some pressure with a one and done in their conference tournament.

[reef]

Ohio state is struggling big time I hope they don’t get in

The loser of TCU Texas May not get in ???

[reef]

Texas just had their 15th loss so if they don’t win Big 12 tournament they will have 16 losses on selection Sunday

[Ramulous]

The big east fixed the games so that their bubble teams beat villanove and marquette....I have no proof.....but hey....this is the internet....

[JimSidd]

I would rather see the committee select Belmont as an at large team than some P5 team with a sub .500 conference record that is limping to the finish a bit, like Ohio State or Texas. I think it’s unlikely that any of these three teams advances to the second weekend, so I would rather see a team like Belmont be given a chance to take down a P5 school. I have been watching the tournament since the early 70s, so I’m part of that old school group that roots for the little guy taking down a big school in round one, even though that team usually loses easily in Round two. If Texas and Ohio St do damage in their respective conference tournaments, they can simply replace one of their conference brethren bubble teams that most likely exited early.

[Rhodymob05]

I cannot believe Texas is a bubble team with that record.

[reef]

I agree if Texas loses to Kansas and finishing 16-16 how can they get in ???

Temple should be in with 23 wins

Ohio State should be out

Belmont should be in

[rambone 78]

St. Johns should be out....a Baron-like collapse.

[rjsuperfly66]

I would rather see the committee select Belmont as an at large team than some P5 team with a sub .500 conference record that is limping to the finish a bit, like Ohio State or Texas. I think it’s unlikely that any of these three teams advances to the second weekend, so I would rather see a team like Belmont be given a chance to take down a P5 school. I have been watching the tournament since the early 70s, so I’m part of that old school group that roots for the little guy taking down a big school in round one, even though that team usually loses easily in Round two. If Texas and Ohio St do damage in their respective conference tournaments, they can simply replace one of their conference brethren bubble teams that most likely exited early.

In all honesty, I think Belmont should be in. They have a 2-2 Q1 record and a 3-1 Q2 record. I think that offsets their bad losses (2), something most bubble teams have. The things working against them would be SOS (191) and average NET win (234). They were 17-0 against Q4 teams. The NET is supposed to account for this though. The committee should not be taking a team because of some arbitrary conference record ruling. But in this case, I think Belmont probably earned it, even if you want to stick them in a First Four game to prove it.