Almost everyone on the bubble is in action today. Here is who needs to take care of business to get in and who can keep their hopes alive if someone slips up.
Three teams from yesterday’s edition who will not be appearing today are Arkansas, Cincinnati, and Ohio State. The Razorbacks did all they could to blow a 21 point lead, but in the end held off South Carolina and thus removed the possibility of a resume marring loss. They are pretty safe at this point. UC needed a miracle run in the Big 12 tournament and instead got thwacked by Iowa State. They are #crownbound. Ohio State went into the Big Ten tourney in a pretty good spot, but with only 17 wins and then barfed in their own laps against Iowa. Will the committee look so kindly on 6 Q1 wins that they can see past an ugly 17-15 overall record? Who knows, but the Buckeyes lost their chance to not have to wait and find out. Xavier’s game has been more extensively profiled here, so it won’t feature in this article.
Indiana vs Oregon, 12 PM, BTN
The Hoosiers are 9-12 in the top 2 quads and have no bad losses. They are firmly on the good side of the bubble right now, but winning here would remove and lingering doubt and probably put them beyond the point of having to scoreboard watch elsewhere.
North Carolina vs Wake Forest, 2:30 PM, ESPN
The Tarheels took care of business yesterday against Notre Dame without really moving the needle. This is a Q2 game so it doesn’t really represent much of a chance to move past anyone so much as a chance to set up a matchup that will. If UNC loses here, they are done. If they win here, they still have a lot of work to do.
Texas vs Texas A&M, 3:30 PM, SECN
Texas is in a similar situation to Ohio State. They have a lot of Q1 wins, no bad losses, but an underwhelming overall record of 18-14. They got past Vandy in the first round and beating the Aggies might move them to a better part of the bubble, but not off it yet.
Boise St. vs San Diego St., 5:30 PM, CBSSN
Both of these teams need this one. The Aztecs are currently sitting in a better position, but are still very much in danger while the Broncos are currently on the outside trying to play themselves in. From a Xavier perspective, Boise State is the pick here as it would drop SDSU to 8-8 in the top 2 quads with a Q3 loss on the resume and likely bump them below 50 in the NET, making it a Q2 win for Boise. The Broncos have a Q3 and a Q4 loss, so a 5th Q2 win doesn’t help them that much.
Oklahoma vs Kentucky, 9:30 PM, SECN
I think the Sooners have done enough to get in at this point, with 7 Q1 wins and 20 overall, but they are still pretty close to the cut line on a lot of brackets. An 8th Q1 win would surely remove all doubt, but they will still be in a good spot even with a loss here.
Utah St. vs UNLV, 11:30 PM, CBSSN
The Aggies are maybe on the very upper fringe of the bubble at 9-6 in the top 2 quads without any bad losses, but they only have 2 Q1 wins. This is a Q2 game, so it won’t wound them that badly, but it could make for an uncomfortable wait until Selection Sunday if they drop this one.