Sunday, March 08, 2015

Bubble Watch Heading Into March 8th

Five teams locked up NCAA Tournament bids after a wild Saturday. Belmont won the Ohio Valley's auto bid, while Butler, Georgetown, Northern Iowa and West Virginia locked up at least an at-large bid. That pushes us to 23 locks and 45 spots still to be earned.

On the bubble, Purdue pulled themselves off while Oklahoma State dropped back. This means that the bubble is still 14 teams fighting over 9 spots.

Here is how the bubble stands as we head into Sunday, March 8th:

Tournament locks (23 teams): 
Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia, Butler, Georgetown, Villanova, Maryland, Wisconsin, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Northern Iowa, Wichita State, Belmont, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas, Kentucky, Gonzaga

Automatic bids yet to be awarded (31, of which 23 are not projected to be won by teams currently locked into the Tournament):
AAC, America East, ACC, Atlantic Sun, A-10, Big East, Big Sky, Big South, Big Ten, Big 12, Big West, Colonial, CUSA, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, MVC, MWC, NEC, Pac-12, Patriot, SEC, SoCon, Southland, Summit, Sun Belt, SWAC, WCC, WAC

Teams that look safe (4):
SMU, Providence, Michigan State, San Diego State

Teams definitely in the Tournament... for now (12):
Cincinnati, Davidson, Dayton, Temple, VCU, St. John's, Xavier, Iowa, Ohio State, Purdue, Colorado State, Georgia

The Bubble (14 teams for 9 bids):
Tulsa, Miami, NC State, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma State, Texas, Boise State, UCLA, Oregon, LSU, Mississippi, Texas A&M, BYU

Best of the rest (7):
Pittsburgh, Rhode Island, Richmond, UMass, Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Stanford

Long shots (17):
Connecticut, Memphis, Clemson, George Washington, Minnesota, Kansas State, UTEP,  Green Bay, Buffalo, Central Michigan, Murray State, Arizona State, Alabama, Florida, Vanderbilt, Wofford, Stephen F. Austin

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