Yes, it is March, that time of year where the term bubble is used more than Ben Rothlisberger at a night club (Insert Sexual Assault Joke Here.)
Let's take a look at the teams who are sitting squarely on the bubble, hopefully for the bubble's sake, it will not include Rick Majerus' Saint Louis squad. The committee has been hammered in the past with the decisions made in the selection of those last few teams to be in or out of the field of 65. Last year we saw Arizona, a 13 loss team, get a bid over a 26-6 Saint Mary's team, this year however, Saint Mary's knocked off Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Championship, causing the committee to lose another at large bid, today we will take a look at 4 teams who can make a case to the committee, and possibly be in or out of the tournament.
Illiniois
18-13 (10-8)
Key Wins: Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Wisconsin
Bad Losses: Bradley, Georgia, Northwestern, Utah
RPI: 75
SOS: 41
-The Illini are a team that two weeks ago would have been worrying about seeding or location in the tournament, but losing their last three and five out of their last six has placed them squarely on the bubble.
Ole Miss
21-9 (9-7)
Key Wins: Kansas State, UTEP
Bad Losses: Arkansas
RPI: 56
SOS: 74
-Ole Miss is an intriguing team to look at, a quick look at their resume and you would say that they are a tournament team, but they didn't do a lot in conference to solidify that bid, the wins over Kansas State and UTEP are great, but the Rebels still need to do work in Nashville at the SEC Tournament to get in.
San Diego State
22-8 (11-5)
Key Wins: New Mexico, UNLV
Bad Losses: Pacific, Wyoming
RPI: 36
SOS: 71
-This resume has the appeal of a Tuesday night at Deja Vu, it's not flashy or pretty, but we're bored, so what the heck. Steve Fischer's squad has nice wins over tournament bound conference foes UNLV and New Mexico, but doesn't really have a great win outside of the Mountain West Conference.
Seton Hall
18-11 (9-9)
Key Wins: Cornell, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame
Bad Losses: None
RPI: 54
SOS: 30
-Seton Hall has not lost to a team this season that will not be in the NCAA Tournament conversation, that alone along with the .500 record in the mighty Big East allows the Pirates to have a strong argument, the win over Cornell turned out to be better than expected, if the Pirates win 2 games in New York at the Big East Tournament, they shouldn't sweat it out on selection Sunday.
Now I have thrown in my two cents, let's hear yours, which of these teams are in or out?
What about UConn and "Little Brother"?
ReplyDeleteLittle Brother is in, UCONN is nowhere near the tournament after their loss to St. Johns today. This is only 4 teams, it was just 4 resumes that I found interesting, in my opinion, if the tournament started today, the only team to be in would be Illinois, then Seton Hall, then San Diego St., then Ole Miss. I think that all can play their way in though, as far as Louisville, they are playing for seeding at this point.
ReplyDeleteLunardi has Illinois in right now but I just don't see it. I think they should be nit bound unless they win a couple conf. tourney games.
ReplyDeleteSeton Hall got a win last night in the Big East tournament. They play Notre Dame tonight and if they win, they're in IMO. Possibly the same situation for South Florida who is another bubble team. They won a game against DePaul and they play Georgetown today.
ReplyDeleteOle Miss should be in if they make a move int he SEC tournament. They got that win over KSU who's looking to be a #2 seed, Only lost to both West Virginia (1 or 2 seed) and Kentucky (1 seed) by 10 points , and lost to Tennessee (3, 4, or 5 depending on what they do in Nashville) by 2 in OT....all 3 of those games were on the road too. They're still losses but it was enough to prove they can hang with very good teams. They also ended the regular season on a 4 game winning streak which typically impresses the selection committee.
The thing about Illinois is that, you are hard pressed to find a team in the country with 3 quality wins as good as the ones that Illinois has, also starting the season out higher has allowed them more room for error, at this point, I say they are in, but lose that first game in the Big 10 tournament, and they're in the NIT.
ReplyDeleteThe selection committee really values how a team ends the season, good or bad, when looking at the bubble teams. As you said, Illinois ended the season in awful fashion. Everyone of their quality wins are offset by an equally embarrassing one too.
ReplyDeleteSeton Hall is out.
ReplyDelete