It was an eventful week on the bubble. First and foremost, Marquette got a fairly easy win over Seton Hall. Obviously, MU can't make it without winning, but the victory was doubly valuable because the Pirates have snuck into the RPI Top 100.
Saturday Recap
Bubble teams were a mediocre 14-12 on Saturday, including some very damaging losses.
Key teams in the Missouri Valley went 0-3 in the BracketBuster games, including home losses for Wichita St and Northern Iowa. Couple that with Missouri St's loss at Valpo and the MVC is shaping up to be a one bid league
Utah St got a big road win on Saturday night at St. Mary's. Despite chuckling at USU's schedule strength, this is probably a good development for MU. USU is much more likely to win their conference tourney (WAC) than St. Mary's (WCC). Therefore, it helps MU that USU got the profile boost rather than St. Mary's. We want to limit potential bid stealers.
C-USA shaping up to be an interesting case study. Six teams are within 2 games of first place and four of those teams have legitimate at-large hopes - Memphis, UAB, UTEP and Southern Miss. UAB, UTEP and USM all won on Saturday, but Memphis fell hard at Rice by 15 points.
Some Mediocre Big Boys really damaged their chances on Saturday. BC made Dick Bennett proud in their 48-46 loss to UNC. That is a huge missed opportunity for the Eagles. Oklahoma St lost at home to Texas A&M. That drops the Pokes to 4-8 in the Big Roman Numeral and off the bubble. Washington St is done after losing at #148 Arizona St. Baylor went all 19th century housewife on themselves, sticking their collective heads in the oven and losing to Texas Tech (RPI #136) in Waco. Finally, Seth Greenburg's crew once again spit the bit, this time losing to Virginia (#146). The Hokies share a room with Baylor in the ICU
Some mid-majors also bit the dust. Duquesne is off the board after losing to the Anonymous Eagle's arch-nemesis, Dayton. New Mexico is ousted after a home loss to Utah. Colorado St's loss at home to UNLV hurts the Rams, but they still have SDSU & BYU on the road
A few teams did solidify their positions. Saturday's biggest mover came from completely off the bubble. Nebraska Cornhuskers, welcome to the bubble! The Huskers withstood a classic bed-shitting (blowing an 11 point lead in a 32 second span) and beat Texas. Michigan St and Georgia both gained solid wins. George Mason continued their impressive run with a win at UNI and Alabama clinched the SEC West (woo-hoo!).
More bubble action after the jump!
Sunday Recap
Sunday was a much calmer affair. Clemson and Richmond stayed in the race with wins over Miami and St. Bonaventure respectively. ODU moved closer to lock status with a victory over Cleveland State.
A fresh look at the bubble is coming up tomorrow. In the meantime, today's only bubble matchup is previewed and the weekend's scores are provided.
Monday Game
S-Curve RPI SOS Top 25 Top 100 Best Win Worst Loss UCF 77 UTEP 51 51 131 0-1 3-4 Mich 58 N Gtech 155 N A Miners loss would help to clear up the CUSA jumble, but UCF is struggling mightily
Weekend Scores
Score
Score
Score
Score VCU 68
Butler 79
UCF 58
GMU 77 Wich St 67
UIC 52
UAB 63
UNI 71
Utah St 75
UNLV 68
TexA&M 67
Utah 62 St. Mary's 66
Colo St 61
Ok St 66
New Mex 60
Arkansas 56
FSU 84
VT 61
ECU 55 Alabama 69
Wake 66
Virginia 54
SouthMiss 72
Baylor 78
Georgia 69
Houston 64
StBon 65 TexTech 69
Tenn 63
UTEP 76
Rich 82
Oklahoma 62
San Fran 53
Wash St 69
Clemson 63 Kan St 77
Gonzaga 70
ArizSt 71
Miami 59
BC 46
Memphis 52
MoSt 67
Cleve St 63 UNC 48
Rice 67
Valpo 80
ODU 74
Cincinnati 93
Illinois 57
Duq 63
Providence 81
Mich St 61
Dayton 64