Bubblicious Friday/Saturday: Locked Bids Remain At 30 Heading To Weekend

Figure on at least 4 or 5 teams locking up bids Saturday.

Thursday In Review
#18 VCU loses @ Davidson -- Rams in a late-season swoon but will lock 'em in with a win over George Mason on Saturday.

#37 Temple wins @ East Carolina -- Beat UConn on Saturday and the Owls are in good position heading into AAC Tournament.

#45 Old Dominion beats Marshall -- If Monarchs get to Conference USA title game and lose, their resume might stack up OK.

#64 Stanford loses @ Arizona State -- Cardinal now in a tough spot. Unless they win @ Arizona on Saturday, only path to NCAA tourney is via automatic bid.

Friday on the Bubble
no games

Saturday on the Bubble
Syracuse @ #48 NC State, 11 (CBS)
Michigan State @ #53 Indiana, 11 (ESPN)
#60 Pitt @ Florida State, 11 (ESPN2)
#65 Miami-Florida @ Virginia Tech, 11
Connecticut @ #37 Temple, 1 (ESPN2)
#41 Oklahoma State @ West Virginia, 1 (ESPNNews)
#42 Xavier @ Creighton, 1 (FS2)
Alabama @ #46 Texas A&M, 1
#56 LSU @ Arkansas, 1 (ESPN)
Saint Joseph's @ #68 Rhode Island, 1
#34 Georgia @ Auburn, 3 (SECN)
Kansas State @ #43 Texas, 3 (ESPN2)
#64 Stanford @ Arizona, 3 (CBS)
#58 Illinois @ #62 Purdue, 3:30 (BTN)
George Mason @ #18 VCU, 4:30 (NBCSN)
Western Kentucky @ #45 Old Dominion, 4:30
Saint Louis @ #54 Richmond, 7
Vanderbilt @ #44 Ole Miss, 8 (SECN)

Do you think the loser of Illinois at Purdue is out?

I don't believe VCU should be a lock if they win this weekend. Starting PG Briante Weber was injured in a loss to Richmond, counting that loss they are 4-6 over their last 10 games and that is the portion of their season that is most relevant, as Weber is done for the season, and it includes two losses to teams outside of the RPI top-100. They are not playing like a team that should be in the tournament IMO. Beating a George Mason team that isn't even in the top-200 of the RPI hardly proves they should be in when it only makes them 5-6 in their last 11 games without Weber with 0 top-50 wins.

Section201 said:

Do you think the loser of Illinois at Purdue is out?

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No. Both teams will have the chance to pick up a couple quality wins in Chicago. That said, I think the game's more important to Purdue. Can't lose at home to a fellow bubble team.

OSUfan said:

I don't believe VCU should be a lock if they win this weekend. Starting PG Briante Weber was injured in a loss to Richmond, counting that loss they are 4-6 over their last 10 games and that is the portion of their season that is most relevant, as Weber is done for the season, and it includes two losses to teams outside of the RPI top-100. They are not playing like a team that should be in the tournament IMO. Beating a George Mason team that isn't even in the top-200 of the RPI hardly proves they should be in when it only makes them 5-6 in their last 11 games without Weber with 0 top-50 wins.

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VCU definitely will be a unique case. Have a hard time seeing them left out even with the injury, but I think the committee will ding them with a much lower seed than their resume and RPI seem to dictate, as they should.

Yeah, they are in an unusual situation - tourney caliber pre-injury, and not tourney-caliber post injury. It will be interesting to see what weight the body of work gets even though theoretically the team minus Weber is what you're getting and therefore those are the only games that SHOULD matter the way I look at it. I think if the Committee puts on the tape and compares how some other bubble teams play compared to VCU of late, they will come to the conclusion that VCU is not a tournament quality team. I saw part of their game with Davidson, now I credit Davidson for making shots and they could be a difficult out in the tournament, but VCU was porous on defense and they were not competitive whatsoever in the game. It would be a mistake for them to include VCU in the field in my opinion, just not a very good basketball team now.

Maybe not the right place for this, but who has the tie breaker between Indiana and Illinois? If Illini beat Boilers, they are 7 and we get stuck with them in Chicago (assuming a W against PSU). Yuk. If they tie IU, who gets the 7 seed? I'd much rather play a reeling IU team than an Illinois team at their home.

Lunardi has Hoosiers as last four in before losing to State today. Looking grim for Crean's squad.

Indiana has tiebreaker so Illinois has to beat Purdue to get the #7 seed. Rooting for Purdue. Want no part of Illinois in Chicago. Would love to play Hoosiers as they've completely choked down the stretch.

IU's last 4 wins are Rutgers twice, Gophers, and Michigan.

So if the Gophers beat PSU tomorrow, we get Indiana first round of the BTT, and if we win that we get Maryland second round?

Obviously we won't be favored in either, but to tell the truth that's about as "do-able" a draw as we could've hoped for at this point.

WanderingGopher said:

So if the Gophers beat PSU tomorrow, we get Indiana first round of the BTT, and if we win that we get Maryland second round?

Obviously we won't be favored in either, but to tell the truth that's about as "do-able" a draw as we could've hoped for at this point.

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Agree. If Gophers don't gag tomorrow couldn't ask for a better draw than Indiana playing with a noose around their necks. Plus, 2 of the Gophers' best wins in their BTT history came vs. the Hoosiers.