Penn State led Purdue for much of the second game of the Big Ten Tournament's afternoon doubleheader in Chicago. But the Boilermakers persevered, with late strong rebounding by Jon Octeus offsetting D.J. Newbill's shooting. That combination helped push the Big Ten's fourth seed into the semifinals and probable lock status for the final bracket.
Bracketology: Purdue, Temple big winners while LSU falls
The Boilermakers basically locked up a bid, while Temple remains in the hunt. On the flip side, LSU might have given its bid away, and Richmond hurt itself in Brooklyn a couple hours after Davidson walked off the Barclays Center floor with a needed win.
Earlier in the day, Tyler Kalinoski's buzzer-beating lay-in dropped for Atlantic 10 top seed Davidson against La Salle in the first quarterfinal of the day in Brooklyn. While the Wildcats looked like a lock when the day began, an extra win, particularly in the first game of a conference tournament, never hurts. The A-10's fourth seed, Richmond, was not so lucky, failing to pick up a third win by losing, 70-67, to a VCU team that also needed the victory.
With an RPI in the top 50 and a pair of wins over their crosstown rivals, the Spiders will remain on the board in the committee room. But a 6-10 record against the RPI’s top 100 and a 5-10 mark in games played away from the Robins Center look likely to keep Richmond out.
Temple finished strongly against a feisty Memphis team in the second American Athletic Conference quarterfinal, setting up a Saturday semifinal against SMU. That contest looks like a "win and in" for the Owls, who are 8-7 against the RPI Top 100, but only 2-7 against the Top 50, a group that includes the 15th-rated Mustangs.
Burying the lede a bit, Friday afternoon's bubble action closed with LSU naturally playing with fire against Auburn in Nashville -- and getting burned. The Bayou Bengals fell to Bruce Pearl's Tigers for the second time this season, 73-70, in overtime. That's just another bad loss for Johnny Jones' squad, which already boasts defeats to Mississippi State, Missouri (both ranked outside of the top 200) and Clemson. That's quite the contrast to the good work LSU did, beating Ole Miss and Georgia at home and winning at West Virginia and Arkansas. In short, good luck to the selection committee in sorting out the Tigers' profile. If any team looks destined for Dayton, it's LSU.
After these results, we have some changes at the cut line.
Avoiding Dayton: Georgia, BYU, Colorado State, Indiana
While the Cougars have already submitted their credentials to Indianapolis, the other three teams now in this group are all in action Friday evening. With LSU's loss, the Hoosiers moved out of the First Four, even before taking the floor against Maryland in the Big Ten quarterfinals (6:30 p.m., BTN). Later, the Bulldogs will attempt to defeat South Carolina for the first time this season (9:30 p.m., SEC Network). Finally, Colorado State takes on San Diego State, a team it split with during the Mountain West campaign, in the second semifinal of the night in Las Vegas (11:30 p.m. ET, CBSSN).
Last Four IN: Temple, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas
The Owls take the court again Saturday afternoon in the American semifinals, but the other three teams in this group all gave away chances to fight another day. That does not bode well for their inclusion with plenty of games left elsewhere.
First Four OUT: UCLA, Tulsa, Miami, Richmond
Out of this group, the Bruins have the best opportunity to move up quickly, facing Pac-12 regular season champion Arizona in the first semifinal in Las Vegas Friday night (9 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network). A win over Houston, ranked 234th in the RPI, in the American quarterfinals (7 p.m. ET, ESPNU) will provide no immediate benefit to the Golden Hurricane, however. The Hurricane and Spiders, meanwhile, are now out of chances.
Next Four OUT: Illinois, Texas A&M, Stanford, Old Dominion
This quartet is just chilling in the waiting room with Miami, Richmond, Iona and Murray State.
My next bubble update will arrive Friday evening. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@ChrisDobbertean) for my thoughts in the interim.
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