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Bubble Banter: Oregon and Arkansas make statements

Arkansas Tennessee Basketball

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson shouts to his players from the sideline during the second half of an NCAA basketball game against Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., on Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014. Tennessee won 81-74. (AP Photo/Knoxville News Sentinel, Adam Lau)

AP

There are 17 days left until Selection Sunday. Every morning from now until the bracket comes out, we’ll help you get caught up on the happenings with impact on the bubble from the night before.

You can see NBCSports.com’s latest bracket here.

Arkansas (RPI: 65, KenPom: 46) all of a sudden looks like an NCAA tournament team, and while they are still sitting on the bubble at this point, the Razorbacks are a lot closer to being on the good side of the First Four than they are to being on the wrong side of the cutline.

That’s what happens when, as a bubble team, you complete a sweep of Kentucky by going into Rupp Arena and knocking off the Wildcats.

Arkansas has won six of their last seven games and three of their last four on the road. They have four top 50 wins and look like they’ll be the third SEC team to go dancing. They still have Georgia, Ole Miss and at Alabama on their schedule. They can probably survive one loss with an SEC tourney run. Two would be crushing.

THE REST OF THURSDAY’S BUBBLE ACTION

Winners:


  • Oregon (RPI: 40, KenPom: 36) picked up a huge win by going into Pauley Pavilion and knocking off UCLA. Whether or not the Bruins were without two starters doesn’t matter; that is a marquee win to put up on Oregon’s resume.
  • Gonzaga (RPI: 31, KenPom: 29) won the WCC by beating Pacific and snapping a two-game losing streak. The Zags only have one top 50 win this season, which is why a loss at Saint Mary’s this weekend and a loss in the WCC tournament would be dicey.
  • Marquette (RPI: 73, KenPom: 55) landed a huge home win over Georgetown: (RPI: 59, KenPom: 54). Marquette is 2-9 against the top 50 and 5-10 against the top 100. They need to win two of their final three: Providence, St. John’s and Villanova. The Hoyas, on the other hand, host Creighton and visit Villanova. They already have a win over Michigan State, but that doesn’t totally outweigh three sub-100 losses. They may need to win both of their last two regular season games.