Bracketology Bubble Watch: Michigan and Rutgers square off in critical Big Ten double-bubble matchup

The Wolverines and Scarlet Knights need as many wins as possible as they collide on Wednesday

Selection Sunday is drawing ever closer and the regular-season opportunities for teams on the bubble are getting less frequent, but more critical, by the day. Some teams are taking advantage of their opportunities while others are continuing to slide in the wrong direction. 

• Iowa beat its second top-25 team in a row on Tuesday night with a 86-60 throttling of Michigan State. That gives Iowa its two best wins of the season in back-to-back games. The Hawkeyes finish with three out of four on the road, but the first two are must-win anyway.
• Florida could not quite get over the hump against Arkansas in an 82-74 loss at home to the Hogs. The Gators move on to play two of the SEC's also-rans, but on the road. Those have to be considered must-wins for a team with too many bad losses already.

The action Wednesday is led by a juicy double-bubble game in the Big Ten. The ACC has a couple of bubble games on tap as well.

Here are the latest "Last four in" and "First four out" teams as of Wednesday morning followed by the bubble teams in action Wednesday. All times Eastern

LAST FOUR IN	Record	Net
Florida	17-11	55
Memphis	15-9	44
Wake Forest	21-7	40
Rutgers	16-10	80
FIRST FOUR OUT	Record	Net
North Carolina	20-8	42
Indiana	16-10	43
Oregon	17-10	66
Michigan	14-11	33

Check out all the teams on Palm's Bubble Watch, the field of the 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub

"Double bubble" game

Rutgers at Michigan

7 p.m. | Big Ten Network,  fuboTV (Try for free) 

	Rutgers
It doesn't get much better than this. Rutgers was on a roll before losing at Purdue on Sunday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights have as inconsistent of a tournament résumé as you can get. They have six Quad 1 wins, all against NCAA Tournament teams and all but one at home. But seven of their ten losses have come to teams with no shot at the tournament, including two in Quad 3 and one in Quad 4. Rutgers sports a NET ranking of 80, and the record for the lowest-rated team to get an at-large bid in the NCAA's metric of choice is 74 (New Mexico, 1999). St. John's got in at 73 in 2019, the first year of the NET. This is a chance for a season sweep of the Wolverines for Rutgers.
	Michigan
Former longtime St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli makes his debut as the interim coach of the Wolverines. You do not often see interim coaches with his level of experience. More noteworthy is that Michigan will be without Moussa Diabate, who is suspended for his role in the postgame altercation at Wisconsin. It does not matter, though. Michigan starts a stretch of four straight home games, and at 14-11, it may need to win at least three of them to enter the Big Ten Tournament with some level of comfort regarding its NCAA Tournament status.

Other bubble teams in action

	Creighton
at St. John's, 6:30 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Blue Jays are in reasonably good shape at the moment, but they have four difficult games ahead, beginning tonight with the Johnnies. Creighton has won five in a row to put itself in a more comfortable position. The Blue Jays are a win from coming off the bubble -- for now.
	Notre Dame
vs. Syracuse, 7 p.m. | ESPNews, fuboTV Try for free) -- Notre Dame, like many ACC teams, is generally lacking in high-quality wins. The Irish have a big one though – a win over Kentucky in nonconference play. They only have one bad loss, though, and it is important that it remains the only one. They have three of their last four at home and not one of the opponents is a team that can help them.
	Davidson
at Duquesne, 7 p.m. -- Davidson's tournament prospects are not safe, but also not in big trouble. It has a win over Alabama and beaten the next three best teams in the A-10 on the road. The only thing now that can call the Wildcats into question is a bad loss ... and the next three games are nothing but potential bad losses.
	VCU
vs. George Mason, 7 p.m. -- VCU has the second-best tournament resume of the A-10 crew, but it's a little weird. The Rams have been better on the road, winning away from home in splits with Dayton and Davidson. They also have home losses to conference leaders Chattanooga and Wagner. Like most teams in VCU's position, bad losses hurt more because of the lack of opportunities to make up for them. A loss to Mason would be tough to overcome.
	Wake Forest
at Clemson, 7 p.m. -- Wake Forest finally beat a team in the bracket over the weekend, defeating Notre Dame at home. That was the Demon Deacons' final such game before the ACC Tournament. That makes these final three games must-wins. Tonight is Wake Forest's final road game of the season, so the schedule is pretty manageable.
	Loyola Chi.
vs. Evansville, 8 p.m. -- Simply put, Loyola is one more bad loss from falling off the bubble. Maybe any loss would do it, but certainly one to the last-place Purple Aces would.
	SMU
vs. Tulsa, 8 p.m. | ESPN+ -- SMU solidified its position as the No. 2 team in the American Athletic Conference when it completed a season sweep of Memphis over the weekend. The Mustangs still have some tough games ahead, but tonight is about avoiding a third bad loss that would put their tournament hopes in doubt.