bubble-wvu.jpg
USATSI

West Virginia is in danger of falling off the bubble after losing at Kansas State on Tuesday. The Mountaineers are now 2-10 vs Quad 1 and just 8-11 vs Quads 1-3. No team with that bad of a record above Quad 4 has ever been selected to the tournament. Things do not get easier for West Virginia. The Mountaineers host Kansas next, then have three of their next four on the road, where they are just 1-7.

St. Bonaventure joins the bubble after completing the season sweep of Saint Louis in back-to-back games. The Bonnies have a poor NET ranking, which is just barely in the top 90. That means they will have to stay hot and have a schedule that can allow that.

Games with Indiana, Oklahoma and new to the bubble Memphis lead the action near the bottom of the bracket Tuesday. All times Eastern

Bubble teams in action Tuesday

1
at Texas A&M, 7 p.m. | SEC Network, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Gators are coming off of a loss at Kentucky, which does not hurt too badly. A loss at Texas A&M would be a different story, even though it might qualify as a Quad 1 loss. Not all Quad 1 opponents are the same. Florida does not want to be losing to non-contenders right now, home or away.
2
at Cincinnati, 7 p.m. | ESPN+ -- The Tigers picked up an enormous win over the weekend at Houston, which is the only team in the AAC that teams like Memphis can really improve their tournament stock against. They cannot afford to get too high off of that win because a loss at Cincinnati would give some of that shine away.
3
vs. Texas, 7 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Oklahoma starts the day at 14-11 overall, which historically has not been a good enough record to get an at-large bid. In the non-pandemic era going back to 1994, only one team has received an at-large bid that was not at least four games above .500. Oklahoma's schedule is not nearly as good as that 2001 Georgia team's. Nobody's ever will be.  It will be vital for the Sooners to at least take care of business at home.
4
at Fordham, 7 p.m. | ESPN+ -- The Rams' margin for error is very small and there are more challenging games ahead. VCU cannot stand to take its worst loss of the season Tuesday, or really, any night. The Rams still have games ahead with inter-city rival Richmond, St. Bonaventure, who crushed them in their first meeting, and Saint Louis.
5
at Duke, 7 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Demon Deacons blew a good chance to pick up their best win of the season against Miami on Saturday, so it looks like they will have to make their tournament case the same way the rest of the league may have to – beat Duke. If Wake pulls this off, they would become the third ACC team to win at Duke this season and start to stake a claim for a spot in the tournament.
6
at TCU, 9 p.m. | ESPNU, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Cyclones are just 3-9 in Big 12 play, and while conference record is no factor whatsoever in the selection process, it does give you an idea just how badly things are going for ISU. The Cyclones are now below .500 against Quads 1-3, so that is in a danger zone as far as making the tournament goes. Things get a little bit easier after today, but nothing is really easy in the Big 12.
7
vs. Wisconsin, 9 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Hoosiers could be getting Wisconsin at a good time. The Badgers have been scuffling a bit lately. IU has been pretty good on its home floor this season, where the Hoosiers have picked up their best wins of the season against Purdue and Ohio State. Better to be a home-court hero than a no-court hero. Their nonconference strength of schedule is putrid and they have to win games like this to start to make up for that.
8
vs. Utah State, 10 p.m. | CBS Sports Network -- The Aztecs are just 3-6 against the top two quadrants and this game is a chance to pad that record. San Diego State will have several chances down the stretch of this season to improve its resume without risking too many severely bad losses, so that helps. The Aztecs need to take advantage of games like this.