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Bubble Banter: St. Bonaventure, USC with the most on the line

USC v SMU

TULSA, OK - MARCH 17: Chimezie Metu #4 of the USC Trojans reacts after a play in the second half against the Southern Methodist Mustangs during the first round of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at BOK Center on March 17, 2017 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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As we will do every day throughout the rest of the season, here is a look at how college basketball’s bubble teams fared on Thursday.

It’s worth reminding you here that the way winning are labeled have changed this season. Instead of looking at all top 50 wins equally, the selection committee will be using criteria that breaks wins down into four quadrants, using the RPI:


  • Quadrant 1: Home vs. 1-30, Neutral vs. 1-50, Road vs. 1-75
  • Quadrant 2: Home vs. 31-75, Neutral vs. 51-100, Road vs. 76-135
  • Quadrant 3: Home vs. 76-160, Neutral vs. 101-200, Road vs. 136-240
  • Quadrant 4: Home vs. 161 plus, Neutral vs. 201 plus, Road vs. 240 plus

The latest NBC Sports Bracketology can be found here.

LOSERS

ST. BONAVENTURE (RPI: 21, KenPom: 65, NBC seed: 8): The Bonnies lost on Saturday afternoon in the Atlantic 10 semifinals, but the loss came to a Davidson team that has climbed into the top 75 of the RPI, meaning that the loss is to a Quadrant 2 team. That’s not a killer, and St. Bonaventure has probably done enough that they could have withstood a loss to a worse opponent.

What is interesting here, however, is that Davidson has turned into college basketball’s latest bid thief. They are not an NCAA tournament team. Rhode Island is, meaning that a Davidson win on Sunday afternoon would knock someone -- Arizona State? Saint Mary’s? Oklahoma State? Oklahoma? Louisville? Syracuse? -- out of the NCAA tournament. Davidson has won 10 of their last 12 games.

Interesting subplot: If you have Arizona State as the last team into the NCAA tournament as of today, then Bobby Hurley’s brother, Danny, needs to win to get Bobby into the tournament.

WINNERS

ALABAMA (RPI: 36, KenPom: 44, NBC seed: 9): Alabama lost to Kentucky in the semifinals of the SEC tournament on Saturday to Kentucky, meaning they will head into Selection Sunday with a 19-15 record. So they need to be mentioned here. But with seven wins against Quadrant 1 opponents -- including three wins over the SEC co-champions Tennessee and Auburn -- it is hard to see them getting left out of the dance.

YET TO PLAY

USC