While the VCU Rams’ victory over the George Mason Patriots in the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals kept one of the conference’s two likely at-large teams alive heading into Saturday’s semifinals, there’s now a three-in-four chance that the team that cuts down the nets on Sunday in Pittsburgh will be a bid thief. With the Rhode Island Rams still sitting right on the cut line and the Davidson Wildcats and Richmond Spiders only making the field by cutting down the nets at PPG Paint Arena, bubble teams from coast to coast will be watching the final three Atlantic 10 contests of the season quite closely.
Bracketology 2017: Atlantic 10 winner has a 75 percent chance to steal someone’s bid
Bubble teams must worry about someone poaching a bid in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon. Maybe in Hartford too.
Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
The one team that might be able to finally relax a bit is the Vanderbilt Commodores, thanks to their victory over the Florida Gators in the SEC Tournament quarters in Nashville — their third win over Mike White’s team on the season. Vandy is now 19-14, ranked 33rd in the RPI (a strong position for a power conference team) and 6-7 against the RPI Top 50. Sure, the ‘Dores could go ahead and win two more, but they probably won’t need to.
As for the Kansas State Wildcats and California Golden Bears, the less said the better ... but since I have to explain why a team might not make the field, I have to type something here. Bruce Weber’s team dropped a heartbreaking 51-50 decision to the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second Big 12 Tournament semifinal of the night. Given the Wildcats’ awful non-conference schedule, which I detailed in this morning’s expanded bubble post, they’re begging for the Selection Committee to leave them out. As for Cal, Jabari Bird left the Golden Bears’ Pac-12 Tournament semifinal against the Oregon Ducks early, and they fell short, 73-65. With just one Top 50 win heading into the night, California is almost assuredly headed to the NIT.
With those results in hand, here’s the up-to-the-minute look at my projected cut line.
Last Four Byes: Xavier, Marquette, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt
Last Four IN: Providence, USC, Syracuse, Rhode Island
First Four OUT: Kansas State, California, Illinois State, Monmouth
Next Four Out: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, TCU
It also wasn’t a good night for those on the fringes. The Indiana Hoosiers fell to the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Tournament 70-60, while the Iowa State Cyclones popped the TCU Horned Frogs’ bubble with a resounding 84-63 victory in the Big 12 semifinals. Finally, the Houston Cougars couldn’t defeat the Connecticut Huskies for a third time, falling 74-65 in the American Athletic Tournament.
And with that event being played on the Huskies’ part-time home arena in Hartford, bubble teams just might have another circumstance to fret about over the weekend.
I’ll have a full bracket update tomorrow before noon Eastern.
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