8 power conference teams already on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament

Cincinnati Bearcats (13-5, 3-2 American)

The Bearcats' season began with seven straight wins. The last of those, over George Washington in the Barclays Center Classic final, is currently their only Top 50 win, against four losses.

Three of those setbacks (at SMU and at home to Butler and Iowa State) came by a total of six points. Those six points have turned what could have been a bulletproof profile into one that's marginal. The Bearcats currently sit well outside of the RPI Top 50, at 67th, and the American isn't old Big East when it comes to quality opposition.

Directly, the Bearcats need to avoid slip-ups in a conference full of potential banana peels. Luckily, they don't have that many in-league cupcake games left — five of their final 13 games come against squads like East Carolina, Central Florida, South Florida and Tulane. More helpful, however, would be a clean sweep of their three remaining quality win opportunities: a home-and-home with UConn and visit from tourney-ineligible, but RPI-helpful SMU.

Clemson Tigers (11-6, 4-1 ACC)

The Tigers just defeated ranked foes consecutively for the first time since 1986, and those home wins over Louisville and Duke seem to indicate that Clemson will be a team to be reckoned with the rest of the way.

Other than those two wins, there isn't much on the Clemson profile as of yet. Road wins are a priority, as the Tigers are just 1-4 in true road games (winning at Syracuse in overtime) and they split a pair of games at the Men Who Speak Up Main Event in Las Vegas, defeating Rutgers after losing to UMass in the semifinals. Thanks to their two home games in that tournament and some other scheduling choices that were either poor (Presbyterian) or didn't work out as expected (USC Upstate, Wofford), Brad Brownell's squad has an awful non-conference strength of schedule, south of 300th, which the Committee won't like all that much.

Clemson also couldn't take advantage of the games that did work to its benefit. The Tigers have three losses to possible SEC NCAA contenders — Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. The loss to the Crimson Tide is especially painful since it came by a single point in the Tigers' temporary digs in Greenville.

The middle and bottom of the ACC look rather strong this year, with only Boston College looking like a gimme game at this point. With the Tigers playing the Eagles twice, they had better be prepared for a fight in 11 of their remaining 13 league contests. While continuing its solid play in Greenville will help Clemson in its quest to get over .500 in conference, it's going to need to pull off at least one quality road win to have a real chance of selection.

Georgetown Hoyas (11-6, 4-1 Big East)

All those victories (which came over DePaul, Marquette, DePaul again and St. John's) seem to have proven is that Georgetown is capable of avoiding the traps that led so many of us to crack wise back in November and December, when it lost to Radford, Monmouth and UNC Asheville all at home, with only the loss to the high-flying Hawks being remotely excusable. The Hoyas even picked a bad year to beat Wisconsin and Syracuse. That means their RPI barely ranks among the Top 100 right now (90th as I type this).

The Big East schedule offers plenty of quality win opportunities in 2016, and Georgetown's next seven games will likely decide their season. They face six Big East bid contenders (three at home, starting with Villanova on Saturday) and welcome former conference rival UConn to the nation's capitol next Saturday.

LSU Tigers (10-6, 3-1 SEC)

The Bayou Bengals dominated Kentucky on Jan. 5, winning by 18, thanks to the combined contributions of Tim Quarterman, Craig Victor, Keith Hornsby and super-frosh Ben Simmons.

That win is looking like the rare highlight for an season that hasn't lived up to its potential. Consider the road performances that sandwiched that Kentucky win. In the SEC opener, LSU demolished a Vanderbilt squad most figured would be Kentucky's most serious challenger for the league title. But in their second conference road game four days after toppling the Wildcats, the Tigers got little out of players not named Ben Simmons in a loss at an average Florida squad.

Then there's LSU's non-conference performance, which while not as bad as you'd think numbers-wise, is still full of missed opportunities. LSU's two worst losses came against North Carolina State and Houston away from home — both of those teams are still in the RPI Top 150. But combine those defeats with ones against Marquette (in Brooklyn), Wake Forest (in Baton Rouge) and College of Charleston (away) and you get a picture of a team that cannot get motivated to play at a high level consistently.

LSU will have occasion to get up a few more times before Selection Sunday. Current No. 2 Oklahoma visits for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 30, and there are conference games against Texas A&M and Kentucky still left. However, the Tigers might need to sweep those four contests and avoid any slip-ups (not likely given the team's history so far) to get the call on March 13, barring a run to the SEC Tournament title.

Northwestern Wildcats (15-3, 3-2 Big Ten)

The Wildcats, the only power conference team never to qualify for the NCAA Tournament®, opened the 2015-16 season with 13 wins in their first 14 games, with the only loss coming against North Carolina in Kansas City.

Northwestern's RPI is barely in the Top 100, sitting at 99 as of Thursday night, and none of those victories came against teams in the at-large picture (Virginia Tech, DePaul and Missouri were the Cats' best non-league victims). Making matters worse, the Wildcats' three Big Ten wins so far (two of which came on the road) don't move the meter much, thanks to the poor performances of Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Quality wins. Stat. Unfortunately, Northwestern's conference schedule is weaker than they'd like. I count only seven quality win possibilities in the Wildcats' remaining 13 games, and just one of those is at home (Michigan State). There's the chance that Chris Collins' squad could finish 9-9 in the Big Ten and not have a win over an NCAA contender to its name.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (11-4, 1-3 Big 12)

The Red Raiders won 10 of their 11 non-conference games, with the highlights coming at home against Summit favorite South Dakota State, Sun Belt contender Little Rock and Atlantic 10 at-large hopeful Richmond. Combine those victories with a difficult early Big 12 slate, and Texas Tech's RPI currently ranks 20th. You might even say Tubby Smith gamed the RPI formula perfectly.

Texas Tech has dropped three in a row and two on the road after its hot start, with Tuesday's defeat at Kansas State far more troubling than losing at home to Kansas or at Iowa State. In fact, the Red Raiders have just two wins away from Lubbock -- victories over Mississippi State and Minnesota in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off consolation rounds. Those three games in San Juan were the only ones Tech played away from home until traveling to Ames on Jan. 6.

UCLA Bruins (11-7, 2-3 Pac-12)

When the Bruins want to be good, like against Kentucky, Gonzaga, Arizona and Arizona State, they are among the country's most entertaining teams.

With only one truly bad loss, a road setback at 168th-ranked Washington State, Steve Alford's team is in good shape to earn a bid, especially with four Top 50 wins in eight games. Plus, the Cougars look to be the only real doormat left among UCLA's 13 remaining regular season opponents. With 10 of the Bruins' Pac-12 rivals in the RPI Top 80 right now, they have plenty of chances to not only solidify their place but boost their seed, as well. All it will take is a bit more consistency.

VCU Rams (12-5, 4-0 Atlantic 10)

Shaka Smart led the Rams to five straight NCAA Tournaments, starting with their First Four-to-Final Four run in 2011. But he's now gone, roaming the sideline in Austin, and one of his former assistants, ex-Chattanooga coach Will Wade, is in charge of a team that's getting things together after a rough early season. The Rams have won seven in a row, including their first four Atlantic 10 games.

When I say the early season was "rough," I'm talking about a 5-5 mark through VCU's first 10 games, with all of those losses coming to power conference foes, only one of whom (Duke Blue Devils) is close to an NCAA lock at this point (Cincinnati, Florida State and Georgia Tech are also alive). That means the Rams will need to do their heavy lifting in conference play.

Given the Atlantic 10's scheduling formula, eight of the Rams' 14 remaining conference games come against teams with some sort of NCAA chance, but only a pair of games with George Washington, a home game with surprising St. Bonaventure and season finale at Dayton look like rock solid opportunities to make an impression upon the Committee. If teams like Davidson and Richmond (which the Rams face twice) and single-game opponent Rhode Island stay competitive, wins in those contests might also help.