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CBS Sports Graphic

Welcome back, Rutgers! The Scarlet Knights were off the bubble, but have jumped back in after coming from behind to beat Indiana in Bloomington. Rutgers is now 17-12 overall and back up to six Quad 1 wins. Its NET ranking has also climbed back into the top 80.

The Scarlet Knights displaced Indiana as the fourth team out of the bracket. The Hoosiers now have to travel to Mackey Arena to face what figures to be an angry Purdue team on Saturday before the Big Ten Tournament. It's an uphill climb for IU now.

Xavier has lost seven of its last eight games following a loss at St. John's. The Musketeers are now just 17-12 overall, a 10-seed in the bracket and practically free falling. They finish the regular season at home against Georgetown on Saturday.

Creighton picked up a big win at home over UConn. It was the Blue Jays' first victory since losing Ryan Nembhard for the season with a wrist injury. Creighton's stay on the bubble was short.

There are three games tonight involving teams that are either among the last four in or first four out, so there is a good chance we will see some shifting around among that group.

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 "last four in" and "first four out" teams as of Thursday morning, followed by the bubble teams in action Thursday. All times Eastern

Last Four InRecordNET
Memphis17-941
Michigan16-1232
Florida19-1151
VCU21-748
First four outRecordNET
Wake Forest23-836
North Carolina22-840
Oregon18-1159
Rutgers17-1275

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
SMU
vs. Cincinnati, 7 p.m. | ESPNU, fuboTV (Try for free): SMU has done well in conference play to put itself in position to get into the NCAA tournament. Houston humbled the Mustangs the last time out, but SMU has a victory over the Cougars and a sweep of Memphis. The Bearcats handled SMU pretty easily in their earlier meeting, but SMU cannot afford to let that happen again.
Memphis
at South Florida, 9 p.m. | ESPNU, fuboTV (Try for free): The Tigers are looking forward to getting another crack at Houston this weekend, but that has to wait. Memphis cannot afford to look too far ahead because a loss to South Florida could be fatal to the Tigers' tournament aspirations.
Michigan
vs. Iowa, 9 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free): Michigan's long home stand finally comes to an end tonight when the Hawkeyes visit. The Wolverines' win at Iowa two weeks ago was a big boost to their tournament hopes. Tonight, Michigan needs to win to get to five games above .500 for the first time this season and provide some cushion for the season finale at Ohio State.
Oregon
at Washington, 10 p.m. | Pac-12 Network, fuboTV (Try for free): Oregon has spent this season proving they can beat anybody and also lose to just about anybody. The Ducks are 10-11 vs. teams in the top three quadrants, which is not usually good enough to get into the NCAA Tournament. This week, they visit the Washington schools and need a sweep to enter the Pac-12 tournament feeling like they have a good chance to get into the field.
San Diego St
vs. Fresno State, 11 p.m. | CBS Sports Network: The Aztecs picked up a big win earlier this week at Wyoming to put a little more space between themselves and the bottom of the bracket. Their work is not done, though. They still have tonight's game and a trip to Nevada before the Mountain West tournament begins. Those are not easy games, but they are games San Diego State needs to win, especially tonight at home.