Daily Bubble Watch: Big wins for Michigan, Syracuse; disaster for Arkansas

We revealed our official Bubble Watch page earlier on Tuesday, which is where you can find updated information on where every team on the bubble stands at this point of the season.

In addition to the Bubble Watch, we'll be previewing and reviewing each game involving a bubble team every day until Selection Sunday.

Here's what transpired Tuesday, and how it affects each team:

Michigan 86, Michigan State 57

Ugh. Losing was bad. Losing to their archrival was worse. Losing by 29? Well, I wouldn't want to be in that locker room after that game. More to the point, MSU is 14-10 and entering what is now a vital stretch of their schedule if the Spartans hope to extend their NCAA Tournament appearance streak to 2o years. They will play four of their next five at home. MSU has to take advantage.

The Wolverines really needed this one. That was only their second top-50 win of the season, joining the one against SMU. Michigan has done well at home this year, but is 2-6 away from Crisler Arena. That has to change because the Wolverines will play five of their final seven games on the road before the Big Ten tournament. Oh, and those home games? Wisconsin and Purdue. Yikes.

Syracuse 82, Clemson 81

These two teams are trending hard in the opposite direction after the Orange came from behind to beat Clemson on a 3-pointer at the buzzer. After losing its first seven games away from Carrier Dome this season, Syracuse has now won two straight. The Orange ran their overall winning streak to five games, but they will need to keep it going. They have made up for some early season sins for now, but still cannot afford a slump.

Clemson, on the other hand, is in deep trouble. The Tigers fell to 13-10 and will play three of their next four on the road. By the time that stretch is over, they might be little more than a .500 team. Clemson has lost eight of 10 and a once-promising season is on the ropes.

TCU 62, Texas Tech 61

The Red Raiders just missed out on a chance to pick up its first notable road victory of the season. They have been playing hit-and-miss basketball since we turned the calendar, but that is going to have to change. Texas Tech's next three games are Kansas, Baylor and at West Virginia. The Red Raiders might need two of those to have much hope for an at-large bid.

TCU avenged an earlier loss to the Red Raiders and picked up its fifth top-100 RPI victory of the season. The Horned Frogs' profile is kind of bland -- no great wins, no bad losses. It's good enough to be in the field for now. They are the only one of the five Big 12 bubble teams to not have a victory against one of the top three teams in the league.

Butler 68, Marquette 65

Marquette let a good chance at another quality victory slip away in a loss at home to Butler. The Golden Eagles are 15-9 overall but 7-9 against the top 200 teams in the RPI. You do not hear much talk about a team's record against that group, but only a handful of teams have received at-large bids with a below .500 record against that group, and only one team has managed it finishing two games below .500. That was Temple last season.

Notre Dame 88, Wake Forest 81

The Demon Deacons played 25 good minutes against the Irish, but then they started to fall apart. An eight-point lead evaporated in a few minutes and Wake found itself in a familiar position, losing to a good opponent. Wake Forest is 14-10 overall and 0-9 against the RPI top 50. The Demon Deacons are running out of chances.

Texas 67, Iowa State 65

The Cyclones followed up their best victory of the season with their worst loss. It's not like ISU gave back the big win they picked up at Kansas with the loss at Texas, but it does take some of the shine off it. It also means that the Cyclones have lost three out of four, and despite the quality of that win, it's still a bad trend. This was supposed to be the start of a relatively soft part of the schedule, but nothing is soft on the road.

Dayton 77, Saint Joseph's 70

Dayton took care of business on its home floor against the Hawks, as expected, setting up a bubble battle with Rhode Island on Saturday. That game figures to be more important to the Rams than the Flyers.

Vanderbilt 72, Arkansas 59

Arkansas followed up a disastrous loss to Missouri with a blowout loss at home to Vanderbilt. The best thing about the Hogs' profile a week ago was that its negatives were not as bad as the negatives of other teams. That is not the case anymore. Arkansas needs to stop the bleeding immediately and start stringing together wins. Games at South Carolina and Florida are now must-wins, but the other games matter, too.

Illinois State 82, Drake 53

The Redbirds took a little while to get things going, but eventually did what a NCAA Tournament-level team does in a situation like this -- win and win big. It was a nice bounce back for ISU after a big loss at Wichita State.

Auburn 98, Mississippi State 92

The Tigers built a 20-point halftime lead and then gave most of it up, but they did hang on to beat the Bulldogs. Auburn needs some quality wins to build up its rÃ©sumÃ©, but this was not about that. It was about not making things worse.