Bracketology Bubble Watch: West Virginia, Florida and Oregon have big opportunity to impress committee
The Mountaineers, Gators and Ducks all face No. 1 seeds Saturday and could boost their résumés with an upset
By
Jerry Palm
•
6 min read
There are some huge opportunities for a few bubble teams this weekend. Florida, Oregon and West Virginia are each taking on teams that are No. 1 seeds in the current bracket. You can't really ask for a better chance to get the selection committee's attention than defeating a team, on the top line.
But before we get to this weekend's games, lets take a look at what bubble teams have done recently.
VCU was Friday's only bubble team in action and took care of business by pounding crosstown rival Richmond 77-57 to pick up a quality win. The victory completed the season sweep of the Spiders as the Rams improved to 18-7.
In Thursday's "Double bubble" game, Michigan picked up an important road win at Iowa. Michigan now moves back to four games above .500 at 14-10 and gets its third Quad 1 win of the season and second away from home. Their record against the upper quadrants is still not great but they did beat Purdue.
Meanwhile, Iowa is now 0-6 vs Quad 1 and 5-8 vs Quads 1-2. Those are disqualifying records necessarily, but their best win and only one of significance is still Indiana at home. The Hawkeyes still have a strong NET ranking, but the resume does not back it up.
Oregon laid another egg on Thursday in a 81-57 loss at Arizona State. That gives the Sun Devils a season sweep and Oregon another bad loss. The Ducks have a chance to save themselves in their next three games, each of which is against one of the Pac-12's few tournament contenders.
Here are the bubble teams in action Saturday. All times Eastern
Check out all the teams on Palm's Bubble Watch, the field of the 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub
Saturday's "Double Bubble" game
Notre Dame at Wake Forest
1 p.m. | ACC regional networks
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| For the Irish, this can move them a little closer to safety. After this game, Notre Dame also only has games that can damage their tournament resume. | |
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| This is a much more important game for Wake Forest than for Notre Dame, and not just because the Demon Deacons are at home. Time is running out for Wake to prove it can beat NCAA Tournament-quality opposition. After this one, the next chance for the Demon Deacons to get a win this good will have to come in the conference tournament. | |
Other bubble teams in action Saturday
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| vs. Auburn, 2 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- For a team desperate for a high quality win, chances do not come much better than this for Florida. The Auburn Tigers, the No. 2 overall seed in my bracket, visits the Gators. Florida still has home games with Arkansas and Kentucky also, but this would be a big boost, especially coming off that loss at Texas A&M | |
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| at Ohio State, 2:30 p.m. | Fox, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Iowa is fortunate that this game got rescheduled after being postponed due to weather. The Hawkeyes need all the quality win chances they can get. A win over the Buckeyes would not only be their best win of the season by far, it would be a quality road win., which the Hawkeyes also lack. | |
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| vs. Saint Louis, 3:30 p.m. | CBS Sports Network -- Davidson took its worst loss of the season last weekend at Rhode Island. That makes games like this more important. That loss dropped the Wildcats to 4-4 vs Quads 1-2 and the only win over a likely tournament team came against Alabama. SLU may not make the NCAA Tournament, but the Billikens are still dangerous. | |
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| at Virginia Tech, 4 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) -- North Carolina's loss to Pitt did the kind of damage that maybe only a win over Duke can fix. That's a problem for another day. The fact of the matter is that a win in this game would be the Tar Heels' best of the season because it's on the road. It would also give them a sweep of the Hokies. | |
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| vs. Virginia, 5 p.m. | ACCN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Miami is the third and last team from the ACC in my bracket and the Hurricanes are currently in the First Four. That makes this game pretty important. It is also important because three of the Canes' next four games are on the road. They want to build up as much cushion as they can before that stretch. | |
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| vs. Drake, 6 p.m. | ESPN+ -- This was a marquee matchup last season, but neither team is quite what it was then. Still, it is a good test for Loyola, which barely won at Valparaiso this week. The Ramblers are looking to avoid a season sweep at the hands of the Bulldogs. Each loss creeps Loyola closer to that cut line. | |
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| vs. Utah State, 6 p.m. | CBS Sports Network -- Boise State is 8-5 against the top two quadrants, which includes a win at San Diego State and a split with Wyoming. They also have a Quad 4 loss to CS Bakersfield. Utah State is good enough to be dangerous, but it's a home game the Broncos cannot afford to lose. | |
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| vs. Duquesne, 6 p.m. | ESPNU, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Bonnies have a resume that is better than it's NET ranking in the mid-80s, but they might not even get a second look if that does not improve. Playing Duquesne is not great for the strength of schedule, so this would be a good time for the Bonnies to not just win, but run up the score. | |
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| vs. DePaul, 8 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Pirates have a tournament resume that is largely inoffensive. Their only Quad 3 loss came at home to St. John's, which is not terrible. Their best wins have come at home, with the exception of the one at Michigan. Seton Hall is looking to avoid making things worse and losing to DePaul would definitely do that. | |
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| vs. Kansas, 8 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Last call for the Mountaineers. If they cannot beat Kansas at home, it is hard to see a path to the NCAA Tournament for them, and it is probably generous to think they have much of a shot of pulling this one off. | |
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| at Saint Mary's, 10 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) -- BYU still is not hitting on all cylinders, even though the Cougars put a stop to their four-game losing streak last week. The wins at LMU and Pepperdine were not impressive in any sense, but at least they were wins. This is BYU's last road game of the season. They will finish up with the home games against LMU and Pepperdine. | |
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| at Fresno State, 10 p.m. | CBS Sports Network -- The Aztecs are the fourth among the four Mountain West teams in the bracket. They have four of their last six on the road, so they are going to have to perform well away from home to stay in the bracket. The schedule includes road tilts with Boise State and Wyoming as well, so that makes winning games like this all the more important. | |
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| at Arizona, 10 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Maybe Oregon got caught looking ahead or maybe they just aren't that good. The Ducks need to bounce back from Thursday's loss at Arizona State and what better way to do it than at Arizona. Oregon has already won this season at USC and UCLA, which is the only reason we are talking about the Ducks at all. | |
