The Pac-10 is the primary focus of Thursday night’s Bubble Watch action, but a rare late February non-conference tilt serves as an early evening appetizer.
Cal, Arizona State Highlight A Light Thursday Night Of Bubble Action
Fifth-ranked Duke hosts Tulsa (7 p.m. ET, ESPN2). I haven’t written much about the Golden Hurricane’s chances, mostly because they’re pretty much non-existent after three straight conference losses. Even if they pull the major upset and win at Cameron tonight, Tulsa’s profile (19-8, 9-5 in Conference USA, RPI: 77) won’t put them in, but they’ll be back in the conversation with three conference games left.
Of course, the Blue Devils will be playing for a one seed now that Purdue will be without Robbie Hummel for the rest of the season. You can read more about Tulsa-Duke at Duke Basketball Report.
Two of the three Pac-10 teams with at-large hopes will be in action later in the evening, but only one of the two games will be on television.
League leader Cal (18-9, 10-4 Pac-10, RPI: 24) hosts Arizona (9 p.m. ET, ESPN), looking to avenge a 76-72 loss in Tucson back on January 31. The Golden Bears are an example of how flawed the RPI can be. They rank 24th, which would normally guarantee them Tournament safety, despite not owning a single win over a Top 50 team and holding a 5-3 record against teams ranked between 51 and 100. That discrepancy is something the Committee will have to seriously discuss if Cal doesn’t win the Pac-10 Tournament. Head over to our Cal blog, California Golden Blogs, and our Arizona blog, Arizona Desert Swarm, for more on this contest.
Second-place Arizona State (19-8, 9-5 Pac-10, RPI: 58), one of my Next Four Out in Monday’s bracket, visits Stanford in a game that won’t be televised. The Sun Devils will look to sweep the season series with the Cardinal and set up a game for first in the league in Berkeley on Saturday. You can follow along with this one at our Arizona State blog, House of Sparky.
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