We still have 37 teams on the Bubble with roughly 15 spots up for grabs as we head into the final three weeks of the regular season. Butler and Michigan joined (or re-joined) the fray this week. We also saw Arizona and St. John’s join those teams listed as Should Be In. There remain few Locks at this point, but that number should grow as teams head down the stretch. Looking ahead, the bubble will start to shrink as several teams are close to moving up. Others will be leaving. Should be a great race to the finish. More at Bracketville.
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Bubble Banter highlights the teams we believe are on the NCAA Bubble. If a team isn’t listed, they aren’t a bubble team at the time of the update. RPI and SOS data is credited to CollegeRPI.com.
UPDATED: Wednesday, February 16 | Records, RPI, and SOS data for Division-I games through Tuesday, February 15
Automatic Bids (31): None decided | Total Spots (68): Number of total teams in the Field.
- Projected Locks (10): Teams who project to have secured a spot in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Some of these projected locks may become automatic qualifiers should they win their conference tournament.
- Should Be In (18): While not yet locks, these are teams in good position to receive an at-large bid.
- Bubble: (37): Teams projected to be at or near the cutline for being selected as at-large candidates, or those whose profiles are not yet complete enough to be considered as Should Be In as of the this update.
- Spots available (15): Number of available openings for the bracket based on spots reserved for automatic qualifiers, projected locks, and teams projected as Should Be In at this update.
- Leaving the Bubble: Maryland (off), Penn State (off), Arizona (in), St. John’s (in)
- Joining the Bubble: Butler (up), Michigan (up)
- Below is a conference breakdown of the bubble picture
Atlantic 10 |
Locks: NONE | Should Be In: Temple, Xavier | Bubble: Duquesne, Richmond |
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ACC |
Locks: Duke | Should Be In: North Carolina | Bubble: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech |
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BIG EAST |
Locks: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Georgetown | Should Be In: Syracuse, Villanova, Louisville,West Virginia, St. John’s | Bubble: Cincinnati, Marquette |
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BIG 10 |
Locks: Ohio State | Should Be In: Purdue, Wisconsin | Bubble: Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Michigan |
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BIG 12 |
Locks: Kansas, Texas | Should Be In: Missouri, Texas AM | Bubble: Kansas State, Baylor, Colorado, Oklahoma State |
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MOUNTAIN WEST |
Locks: BYU, San Diego State | Should Be In: UNLV | Bubble: Colorado State, New Mexico |
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PAC 10 |
Locks: NONE | Should Be In: Arizona | Bubble: Washington, Washington State, UCLA |
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SEC |
Locks: NONE | Should Be In: Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Vanderbilt | Bubble: Georgia, Alabama |
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BEST OF THE REST |
Locks: NONE | Should Be In: NONE | Bubble: Butler, Cleveland State, Missouri State, Wichita State, Old Dominion, George Mason, VCU, Memphis, Southern Mississippi, UAB, UTEP, Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Utah State |
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