bubble-effect-michigan.jpg
USATSI

Thursday is a great day to be a bubble team. All six teams on the bubble to make the NCAA Tournament that are in action are at home, led by Oregon and Murray State. But first let's look at how the bubble teams in action Wednesday fared:

Michigan picked up a win in the Wolverines' first game without suspended coach Juwan Howard in a 71-62 defeat of fellow bubbler Rutgers. The win puts Michigan back to four games above .500 at 15-11. It was the first of four straight home games, all of which are against teams that can improve the Wolverines' tournament resume.

For the Scarlet Knights, it was a second consecutive loss after four straight Quad 1 wins. Rutgers is now just 16-11 overall and 10-10 against the top three quadrants. And, of course, the Scarlet Knights have that Quad 4 loss to Lafayette. They will look to earn a season sweep of Wisconsin next.

Creighton also won on Wednesday, but you will forgive the Bluejays if it also feels something like a loss.  Freshman guard Ryan Nembhard injured his wrist in the victory over St. John's and will be out for the remainder of the season. Nembhard is the leading candidate for Big East Freshman of the Year.

Note – all references to NCAA tournament selection records and trends refer only to pre-pandemic tournaments. Due to shortened schedules and a relatively small number of non-conference games in 2021, those rankings were not reliable enough to be considered.

Here are the updated "Last four in" and "First four out" of the 68-team field followed by the bubble teams in action Thursday. All times Eastern

LAST FOUR INRecordNet
Memphis15-946
Michigan15-1133
Florida17-1156
Wake Forest21-842
FIRST FOUR OUTRecordNet
Rutgers16-1183
North Carolina20-841
Indiana16-1043
Oregon17-1067

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

Bubble teams in action Thursday
Indiana
vs. Maryland, 7 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free) --  Indiana has been going the wrong way and has fallen off the bracket for now. This begins a stretch of three winnable games that the Hoosiers now have to win. IU is just 8-10 against the top three quadrants, which is the kind of record that almost always eliminates teams from the at-large pool. Following Maryland, the Hoosiers play at Minnesota and host Rutgers. They need to win those to avoid being in the position of having to win at Purdue in the season finale to have any hope for an at-large spot.
Memphis
vs. Temple, 7 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) --  Memphis already has too many losses like this would be if the Tigers go down vs. the Owls. They already have losses at Tulane, Mississippi, East Carolina and Georgia. This would be worse because it is a home game. Memphis needs to win these next three and take their chances with Houston at home to end the regular season.
Murray St.
vs. Belmont, 9 p.m. | ESPNU, fuboTV (Try for free) --  The Racers have a gaudy record of 23-2, but a strength of schedule ranking of 236. That is because the Ohio Valley Conference has nothing but Quad 4 opposition outside of Morehead State and Thursday's opponent, Belmont. Their non-conference SOS is in the top 100 and includes wins at Memphis and at home to SoCon champion Chattanooga. If Murray State can beat the Bruins and enter the OVC Tournament with just those two losses, they have a decent shot at an at-large bid should they need one. A win for Belmont vs. the Racers would put the Bruins on the bubble as well. They have wins over Saint Louis, Iona and Chattanooga. Avenging the 22-point home loss that the Racers gave them earlier this season would give them some hope.
San Fran.
vs. Gonzaga, 9 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) --  USF is on the bubble because of a lack of higher quality wins and a home loss to Portland. Beating Gonzaga would take care of whatever ails the Dons' tournament prospects and a loss does not hurt much.
Oregon
vs. UCLA, 9:30 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) --  Oregon has spent a lot of time this season self-destructing. The Ducks have home losses to Colorado and Cal and were swept by Arizona State. The only thing giving Oregon hope of getting into the NCAA tournament is the wins at UCLA and USC. Now, the Ducks need to sweep those two again and avoid giving it away next week when they travel to the Washington schools.
BYU
vs. Loyola-Marymount, 10 p.m. | CBS Sports Network --  BYU is near the cutline because of the damage done by a four-game losing streak a couple of weeks ago, led by a loss at Pacific. The Cougars end the regular season this week with two more Quad 4 games and they are both must wins.