The Bolated Mid-Week Peek – 3/6 Edition
There’s a brand new trend among bubble teams, fresh off the presses: winning. From Ohio State to Texas A&M, bubble teams everywhere seem to be getting with this hot new trend. So what can we expect with another edition of Bracketology 165 due out tomorrow? Let’s take a peek at this week’s top story-lines:
Monday-
West Virginia punched their ticket with a convincing win over Pitt. The Mountaineers now hold the Big East’s fifth seed. A win over Saint John’s, coupled with a Marquette loss at Syracuse this weekend could move them into the fourth spot, and a first round bye in the Big East tournament.
Kansas stated their case for a top seed with a 109-51 dismantling of Texas Tech. You can bet the Red Raider players are happy Bobby wasn’t in charge of Tuesday practice.
Tuesday-
The Ohio State Buckeyes were Tuesday’s leading story, beating Big Ten top dog Purdue in overtime. They’re sure to be on a “last four” list tomorrow. A weekend win over Michigan State in Columbus could earn the Buckeyes a spot in the field.Virginia Tech helped dismiss their “fad team” status with a 80-58 win over Wake Forest. If they can knock off Clemson on the road Sunday, they’ll be hard to keep out of the field the rest of the way.
Kent State returned to their winning ways with a solid 50-39 win over Miami-Ohio, clinching the regular season MAC title in the process.
What is Marquette doing playing Florida Gulf Coast at this time of year? Seriously, what is Tom Crean thinking? A game like that this late in the season? You’ve got nothing to gain and everything to lose from a scheduling mistake like that. I mean, they won by 30, but what are they doing playing that game in the first place?
Questions continue to linger around Arkansas’ road woes with another road loss to Mississippi. The regular season finale with Auburn on Saturday now looms large if they hope to stay alive. On the other hand, the win keeps the Rebs alive, but not by much with a 6-9 SEC record.
New Mexico took a step away from their status as a paper giant, finally picking up a nice win over UNLV. That should keep them in tomorrow’s bracket, although they’ll still need a strong showing in the Mtn. West tourny to make the cut.
Hooray for Kansas State, who put an end to their four game skid by beating lowly Colorado. A win over Iowa State on Saturday would make it 10 in the Big 12, which should be good enough to cement a spot in the dance.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT UPSET OF THE NIGHT-
Most home teams held serve. In fact, 10 of the 12 favorites advanced on the opening night of Conference Tourny season. Loyola (IL) however pulled a 6/3 upset on Wisconsin-Milwaukee to advance to Indianapolis and the Horizon League Quarterfinals.
Wednesday-
Florida nearly did it. With the #3 team in the country in the house, the two-time defending champs damn near pulled of the upset and punched their ticket to the dance. Instead, they came up three points short when a Nick Calathes drew iron in the final seconds. Sunday’s showdown with Kentucky now looms as Florida’s make-or-break game.
Speaking of Kentucky, the Wildcats picked up SEC win #11 over South Carolina. A weekend win over Florida should punch their ticket into the dance.
Syracuse completed the easy step into their fight to make the field by winning at Seton Hall. If they can knock off Marquette in the Carrier dome, they just might make the cut after all.
If there’s ever such thing as a good loss, Mississippi State’s OT loss at Vanderbilt might have been just that. The Bulldogs nearly ruined the Commodores perfect home record on Senior Night. A weekend win over cupcake LSU will punch their ticket into the field.
Big win by Texas A&M at Baylor. The win clinches at least a .500 Big 12 record. This weekend’s home tilt with Kansas sets up perfectly for a team in need of a big win to cement their tournament status.
I think Boston College might petition the NCAA to make games 20 minutes. After falling to UNC after holding a 54-40 halftime lead, the Golden Eagles fell to Miami last night after holding a 27-20 halftime lead, not that either win would have helped BC sniff a bubble bid. The win keeps Miami from falling to the bubble in tomorrow’s bracket.
Dayton completed step one in their long fight to make the field once again. A win over St. Joe’s on Saturday would get the Flyers back to the .500 mark, and back into the at-large conversation.
Temple continued to hold down the second spot in the A10 win a win over Duquesne. If they can knock of LaSalle on the road this weekend, they’ll be in the at-large conversation heading into the Conference Tournament.
Oklahoma picked up a key road win, knocking of rival Oklahoma State on the road. The win clinches at least a .500 Big 12 record with Missouri coming into Norman on Saturday.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT UPSET OF THE NIGHT:
A week and half ago Navy had the lead in the Patriot League. Now, the dream is over. After being passed by American U on the last day of the season, the Midshipmen dropped Wednesday Night’s Patriot League Tournament opener on their home floor in triple overtime. Even more heartbreaking, the season ended when Bucknell’s Josh Griffin nailed a 40-foot prayer as time expired in OT to pull off the 87-86 upset. That’s March Madness for you. (Note- finding video of this finish has become my sole purpose for living. If you know of a link, email it to me HERE)
Looking Ahead – Tonight:
Stanford @ UCLA: The Pac-10 Title is on the line when Stanford invades Pauly Pavilion tonight. A win by the Bruins gives them the title and helps solidify their status as a top seed. A Stanford W would pull the Cardinals dead-even with UCLA heading into the weekend, and put them in the converation for a top seed.
Arizona State @ Oregon: A big game for both teams’ bubble chances. The Ducks badly need a weekend sweep, while a win by the Sun Devils could keep them from needing to make a run in the Pac-10 tournament.
Xavier @ St. Joe’s: The Red Hawks have lived on the lasts four lists the last month. An upset over the Musketeers could be enough to have St. Joe’s resting a little easy going into the A10 tourny.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT GAME OF THE NIGHT-
High Point vs. Winthrop, Big South Semifinal: Winthrop has been slumping of late, while the Panthers of High Point have been coming on strong. The two teams split the regular season meetings, including a 62-61 barn-burner on January 12th. The winner plays either UNC-Ashville or Liberty for the Big East title on Saturday.
Some notes going into tomorrow’s bracket:
There will most likely be a lot of movement, as I re-ranked the entire S-Curve last night heading into next week’s daily bracket updates. Another note I picked up that I had previously been unaware of – BYU cannot play in a Fri/Sunday pod/region because of religious reasons. I haven’t heard anything disallowing Catholic teams from doing the same however.
Check out Bracketology 165 HERE, and Wednesday’s Bubble Buster Breakdown HERE. Don’t forget, you can predict all 30 conference tournaments at the MOS Conference Tournament Headquarters. Questions, Comments, Concerns? Email Mike HERE.
Mike Fahmie
Ok, I searched Marquette’s website and couldn’t find anything, and figured this was scheduled here from the onset. While that somewhat explains it, I still think you’re better off not playing at all than scheduling a game against such a cupcake that late in the year. Simply too much to lose and absolutely nothing to gain. It’s like putting Appalachian State on your football schedule…
Thanks for the comment,
Mike
Marquette played Florida Gulf Coast this late because originally FGCC was supposed to play in the Blue and Gold Classic in December…a tournament hosted by Marquette the last 40+ years. It’s a 4 team tournament. Late in the Summer, Maine dropped out of the tournament leaving the tournament in doubt. In fact, by August it was scrapped completely for the first time in years. FGCC decided to honor the contract anyway which Marquette was obviously thrilled with because finding an opponent in August to fill your schedule is close to impossible. The date was changed for a number of reasons related to the cancelling of the tournament and MU moving a different game into that slot.
That is the reason. Pretty simple, nothing conspiriatorial. Plenty of information on this available through a quick google search. Google is your friend. :)