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Saturday’s Bubble Losers

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Bubble losers:

- Mississippi State: The Bulldogs are in big trouble. They looked great in the first half against No. 1 Kentucky, but other than that they have been dreadful the last three weeks. After getting smoked by Alabama in the second half, their losing streak has now reached five games and, sitting at 6-8 in the SEC, rick Stansbury’s club probably is on the wrong side of the bubble right now. Win out and get a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament and we’ll talk.

- Seton Hall: After doing what they needed in a win over Georgetown on Wednesday, all the Pirates had to do was avoid a slip-up in their last two games against Rutgers and DePaul and Kevin Willard’s club would have sealed up a bid. That was too much to ask, however, as Seton Hall lost to the Scarlet Knights in overtime. If the Pirates can beat DePaul and win a game in the Big East Tournament, they are probably still in pretty good shape. But their margin for error is completely gone.

- NC State: Bye bye, Wolfpack. NC State was on shaky ground heading into the weekend, and an OT loss to Clemson does nothing to change that fact. NC State is 0-8 against the top 50 and is sitting at 7-7 in the ACC after four straight losses. They need to make a run in the ACC Tournament and beat one or two of the top teams in the ACC.

- St. Louis: The Billikens were on decent footing prior to Saturday, as a relatively weak resume was covered up by a strong Atlantic 10 conference record and wins in nine of ten. But a loss to a dreadful Rhode Island team will do a lot to screw with a team’s at-large resume. They have no top 50 wins. That’s not good. All of a sudden, next week’s game against Xavier has become close to a must-win for both teams.

- Harvard: Harvard gave away a game against Penn at home, which dropped them into a tie for first place in the Ivy League and put the Crimson into the at-large discussion. The bad news may actually be for the other bubble teams -- now they have another team to worry about. If both Harvard and Penn win out, they will be headed for a one-game playoff. Sound familiar? The same thing happened to Harvard last year and they missed out on the NCAA Tournament.

Teams that are done:

- LSU: The Tigers were relevant for, like, a day. A 24 point loss to Ole Miss is an easy way to kill any at-large hopes.

- Marshall: Ditto for a 20 point home loss to Memphis.

- UMass: Consider that last ditto dittoed for a 33 point loss to Dayton.