Complaining about the NCAA tournament’s “bubble” is a time-honored tradition among bracketologists, hoopheads and anyone else who catches a game with two teams on the fringe of an at-large bid.
Take Sunday’s South Florida-Cincinnati game.
The fish was solid – a freshman sinks two free throws in the final 3.2 seconds – but a 46-45 final score … well, that just turns people off. (If it were the Big Ten, you’d hear nothing but catcalls.) It’s no coincidence that the Bearcats, a 9 seed in our weekend bracket projection, and Bulls, out of the field, represent two bubble teams.
So, two bubble teams, awful game. Bad year for the bubble? Not really, according to the guys at Crashing the Dance. It’s typical. In fact, it’s essentially what the bubble is every season:
Cincinnati and South Florida happen to fall in that range on Sagarin’s ratings. Bad game? Yes. But standard stuff for the bubble.
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