Bubble Watch (February 18)

Wednesday's Results
Arkansas 92, South Carolina 79
Duquesne 83, Charlotte 77
Louisville 91, Notre Dame 89
Maryland 67, NC State 58
Memphis 77, Tulane 64
Oklahoma State 69, Iowa State 64
Penn State 81, Northwestern 70
Seton Hall 59, St. John's 50
UAB 59, Southern Miss 54
Utah 66, UNLV
Wichita State 76, Evansville 70

Thursday's Slate
Auburn at #60 Florida, 6 p.m. (ESPN)
LaSalle at #34 Dayton, 6 p.m. (CBS College Sports)
Vanderbilt at #49 Ole Miss, 6 p.m. (ESPNU)
Pitt at #62 Marquette, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)
USC at #52 Washington, 9:30 p.m. (Fox College Sports)
#45 St. Mary's at San Diego, 10 p.m. (ESPN2)

The Skinny: That thud you just heard was Northwestern's at-large hopes officially going down in smoke. Barring a "4-days-in-March" miracle by the likes of the Wildcats, Michigan or Gophers, the Big Ten will be a 5-bid league this season. That number could shrink to 4 if Illinois bombs down the stretch. ... The A-10 may be blowing its chance to get 6 bids. Charlotte is not a shoo-in, especially after last night's home loss to Duquesne, and Rhode Island (safely "in" at the start of the week) is coming back to the bubble after suffering its third straight loss last night.

Marquette and Ole Miss could use additional quality wins for their resumes, and tonight both will get their chance. The Warriors host Pitt, while the Rebels host Vandy. ... Elsewhere, bubble teams like Dayton, Florida & St. Mary's simply will try to avoid the dreaded late season "bad loss."

Purely hypothetical, I'm aware it isn't going to happen, but what if the Gophers run the table? How would the committee view them? That would give them 4 wins over Top 20 teams.

Breakin' The Plane said:

Purely hypothetical, I'm aware it isn't going to happen, but what if the Gophers run the table? How would the committee view them? That would give them 4 wins over Top 20 teams.

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They would be in, provided they are the #5 seed or better in the BTT. If not, they would still need to win the opening round game.

If the Gophers win their last 6 regular-season games (cough, cough), in my opinion they'll be a lock for the tournament. However, color me surprised if we beat anyone other than Indiana or Iowa.