Now that the Super Bowl is done, it is time to debut the Bubble Watch. Here I will preview the NCAA Tournament bracket impact of the games involving bubble teams playing each day.
The bubble is a bit larger than usual at this time of year because of the disparate number of games teams have played, especially when it comes to non-conference games. That has made rankings like the NET somewhat unreliable. There have been only 43% of the typical number of non-conference games played. Overall, the number of games played so far is about a month behind what it usually would be.
The committee will have its hands full trying to sort this out five weeks from now.
Here are the bubble teams in action Monday. All times Eastern
| Team | Game | Time (TV) | Bubble breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
 | MINNESOTA vs. Nebraska | 8 p.m. (BTN) | The Golden Gophers are near the bottom of the bracket because even in a season where home court does not provide as much of an advantage as usual, Minnesota is 0-6 away from The Barn. That is a problem for another day. Monday, the Gophers get a Nebraska team that played its first game in a month Saturday in a loss to Michigan State . |
 | MARYLAND vs. Ohio State | 9 p.m. (FS1) | Maryland dropped to 9-9 over the weekend with a loss at Penn State . Strength of schedule is not the issue for the Terrapins. They have the second-ranked schedule according to the NET and have played a whopping 13 Quad 1 games. Tonight will make it 14, but no matter how tough the schedule is, Maryland will need a good enough record to get picked. .500 isn't going to do it. |
 | SAN DIEGO STATE vs. San Jose State | 11 p.m. (FS1) | The Aztecs have a pedestrian resume, which features a home win over UCLA and a home loss to BYU . They split a pair of home games with Colorado State and were swept by league leader Utah State . They need to keep plugging away until they get a shot at Boise State at the end of the regular season. |
