At some point, the bubble is going to start shrinking. We lost three teams this week with several others on the edge of elimination. There are still an amazing 15 spots up for grabs in our latest bracket projection. Some are more secure than others. If the next two weeks continue like the others, we’ll be in for a wild ride during Championship Week.
Bubble Banter will be updated more often over the next couple of weeks. 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: Tuesday, Feb. 22
Automatic Bids (31): None decided | Total Spots (68): Number of total teams in the Field.
- Projected Locks (17): 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 (11): While not yet locks, these are teams in good position to receive an at-large bid.
- Bubble: (34): 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: Oklahoma State, New Mexico, UTEP
- Joining the Bubble: Michigan
- 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, North Carolina | Should Be In: None | Bubble: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Virginia Tech |
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BIG EAST |
Locks: Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Syracuse, Villanova, Louisville | Should Be In: West Virginia, St. John’s | Bubble: Cincinnati, Marquette |
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BIG 10 |
Locks: Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin | Should Be In: None | Bubble: Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Michigan, Penn State |
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BIG 12 |
Locks: Kansas, Texas | Should Be In: Missouri, Texas AM | Bubble: Kansas State, Baylor |
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MOUNTAIN WEST |
Locks: BYU, San Diego State | Should Be In: UNLV | Bubble: Colorado State |
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PAC 10 |
Locks: NONE | Should Be In: Arizona | Bubble: Washington, Washington State, UCLA |
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SEC |
Locks: Florida | Should Be In: Kentucky,Vanderbilt, Tennessee | 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, Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, Utah State |
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