2020 Bubble Watch
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Quentin Grimes has gone off for Houston in the second half. Grimes is the biggest reason UH is now up 13 with a little over 2 minutes left.
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Houston knocks off Memphis to knock the Tigers off the bubble. Memphis now needs to reach the AAC title game at a minimum to have any shot at an at large and probably needs to win the the AAC Tournament which will be harder than normal for them since that tournament isn’t in Memphis this year. The AAC Tournament will be played at the new Dickies Arena in Ft. Worth this season.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 how close are you to Fort Worth? Would be fun to watch, I think 5 teams could win that tournament given the right day.
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@kjayhawks said in 2020 Bubble Watch:
@Texas-Hawk-10 how close are you to Fort Worth? Would be fun to watch, I think 5 teams could win that tournament given the right day.
I live in Houston so I have no plans to make the 4 hour drive to Ft. Worth for that tournament. I might go check out the Southland Tournament at some point though since that’s in the Houston area.
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Valparaiso with a 2 point lead over Bradley at halftime of the MVC Title game.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 haha don’t blame you
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Winthrop beats underdog Hampton (KenPom #311) after trailing at halftime to win the Big South bid.
For what it’s worth, Bracketology has Winthrop as a 16 seed, facing KU in the first round.
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Liberty wins the A-Sun title game and bubble teams rejoice as the Flames were a potential bubble team had they lost.
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Wichita St. picked up a much needed win and did so with style today blowing out Tulsa at home by 22 points.
With this loss, Tulsa probably needs a run to the AAC title game in order to keep their at large hopes alive.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I like WSUs odds to get in if they can win a couple of games in Fort Worth. I really want to play them.
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@kjayhawks said in 2020 Bubble Watch:
@Texas-Hawk-10 I like WSUs odds to get in if they can win a couple of games in Fort Worth. I really want to play them.
If they get two wins, they’ll definitely be in because their second game should be against Houston.
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ETSU rolled to an easy victory over Western Carolina in the semifinals of the SoCon to advance to the title game against either Wofford or Chattanooga who are tied late in the second half.
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Give me more good dance… I’m of the opinion that regardless of team or conference affiliation no one should be invited to the tournament unless having a .500 record or better.
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Bubble watch results for Sunday 3/8.
Helped themselves
Wichita St.- the Shockers needed a good win and got one by blowing out Tulsa and denying Tulsa an outright AAC title. Shockers still have some work to do to lock themselves in though.
Liberty- the Flames won the A-Sun Tournament title to get the automatic bid and not need to sweat it out Selection Sunday.
East Tennessee State- the Bucs reached the SoCon title game with a win in the semifinals.
Hurt themselves
Memphis- Tigers couldn’t stop former Jayhawk Quentin Grimes on the 2nd half and suffered a double digit loss to Houston in a game Memphis needed. Now the Tigers will need to reach the AAC title game and probably win the tournament to get the automatic bid.
Tulsa- the Golden Hurricane’s at large bid hopes took a big hit with their 22 point loss at Wichita St. Tulsa was also denied the outright AAC title and probably need to win the tournament at this point.
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Bubble games for 3/9
There’s only one game today that will impact the bubble and that is the SoCon Tournament title game. East Tennessee State takes on Wofford for the SoCon’s automatic bid. Bubble teams will be cheering for the Bucs to take that automatic bid and remove themselves from the bubble pool.
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Watching East Tennessee and Wofford. First half only took about 40 minutes real time. Can’t think of a men’s game I’ve seen lately that went that fast.
Would’ve been nice to have something like that as the lead-in to KU games, instead of missing the first 5 or 10 minutes as usual.
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Good guy Steve locked in that tournament bid.
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Bubble teams are rejoicing tonight as ETSU comes alive in the 2nd half to roll to an easy victory in the SoCon title game and clinch an automatic bid and remove themselves from the bubble pool.
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@BShark Steve Forbes should be headed to a power 5 job as soon as he wants it.
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@kjayhawks Absolutely. 75% win rate in D1 and 77% total as a HC. Has done a great job building the ETSU program back up.
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Zags avoid the upset bid from San Francisco. If they weren’t a lock as a 1 seed before, that should nail it down.
USF played them tough earlier this year as well…probably NIT bound. 22 wins in a good mid-major.
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@nwhawkfan said in 2020 Bubble Watch:
Zags avoid the upset bid from San Francisco. If they weren’t a lock as a 1 seed before, that should nail it down.
USF played them tough earlier this year as well…probably NIT bound. 22 wins in a good mid-major.
The WCC is improved over the last few years. USF is a good team
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USF has a good young coach too. A mixed bag of international players. 3 of their top 4 players will return which gives them a chance to keep competitive
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No games with bubble implications today, but there are 5 automatic bids on the line today.
The Horizon League final between UIC and Northern Kentucky on ESPN at 6pm (Central)
The NEC title game between St. Francis (PA) and Robert Morris on ESPN2 at 6pm (Central)
The Colonial title game between Northeastern and Hofstra on CBSSN at 6pm (Central)
Gonzaga and St. Mary’s on ESPN at 8pm (Central) for the WCC title.
North Dakota and NDSU for the Summit League title on ESPN2 at 8pm (Central).
The first of power conference tournaments also gets going today as the ACC Tournament gets underway with 2 games today. Pitt and Wake Forest in what could be Danny Manning’s final game as head coach at Wake. The other game is UNC and VA Tech. As bad as UNC has been this year, that team still has a lot of talent capable of making a run in the ACC Tournament so I’ll be curious to see what they do this week.
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Creighton’s PG and 2nd leading scorer is doubtful for the Big-East tournament with a knee injury…
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I have been a big proponent over the years that at-large bids should only go to teams that have a .500 overall record and a .500 record in conference. There’s no point in giving credit to playing a bunch of tough teams, but losing most of those games.
That rule would mean that the following schools would be eliminated from the Bubble as of now:
ACC - Clemson
Big 12 - TCU
Big East - Marquette, Xavier
Big Ten - Purdue, Indiana, Minnesota
That’s seven schools that would be off the bubble watch, and looking to win their conference tournament to get in.
It would also make the last couple of weeks of conference play more interesting, as teams potentially on the bubble would be playing virtual play in games to qualify, like Indiana was faced with over the last couple of weeks. Indiana finished Big Ten play at 9-11, so they were one win away from being .500. That would have made this weekend’s home game against Wisconsin a game to remain at-large eligible. That makes the road loss to Illinois even bigger, not to mention the egg they laid at Purdue.
It just makes things that much more interesting for both P5 schools, and for the top teams from mid majors, most of whom are currently shut out by the 9th place team from a P5 conference.
Just my opinion, though.
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I love that we never have to worry about “bubble watch”
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Lot’s of interesting games will be played in the major conference tournaments. I think the B12 is set outside of Texas, I believe they have to beat Tech and maybe even the winner of our game to feel comfortable. I don’t see a major upset coming in this conference, I bet whomever wins it is already in the field of 68. The most intriguing games this week are in the Pac 12, Big 10 and SEC IMO. The Pac 12 has a good share of teams that will make or break their chances. Stanford, UCLA and ASU all probably need at least one win maybe two for Stanford. I think this conference has a chance to have an upset and a team on the outside gets the Auto-Bid. I think Oregon is a solid team but the rest are evenly matched, if someone can upset the ducks, it’s anyone’s game. I personally don’t think its anything other than the usual suspects in the B10. Maryland, MSU and Wisconsin have the best teams and one of those teams gets it done. Indiana is really the only bubble team for that conference, Purdue has an outside shot. If one of those teams can win 2 games, maybe even 3 for Purdue. They should get in but Purdue would have to play MSU in the second game and I think that’s a easy win for the Spartans. The SEC I think is another where you could see a team get in that wouldn’t without winning the tournament. Mississippi state, Florida and South Carolina are teams that still have a chance to get an at large bid. I wouldn’t sleep on Arkansas, they got back their man guy (forget his name) and he makes them a much better team. With Florida and Kentucky on the top side and the other 3 on the bottom side. I think the one of the trio of MSU, SC and Arkansas gets to the title game and upsets UK or Florida for the auto -bid.
Edit: i don’t care care about the ACC lol
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@kjayhawks SC is toast if they don’t win the SEC tourney. Women’s team going strong, though!
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@kjayhawks Texas/Tech is essentially an elimination game as I can’t see the loser getting an at large bid.
In the PAC12, If Stanford beats Cal, they would play UCLA in what should essentially be another elimination game.
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Add Yale to list of NCAA Tournament teams as the Ivy League announced they have cancelled their post season tournaments giving their automatic bids to the regular season champs.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in 2020 Bubble Watch:
Add Yale to list of NCAA Tournament teams as the Ivy League announced they have cancelled their post season tournaments giving their automatic bids to the regular season champs.
yet to be determined. - - Tommy Amker and others are petitioning to play tourney games anyways could get messy
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I’d be fine if the B12 did the same but too much money at stake for the bigger conferences.
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Northern Kentucky, Hofstra, and Robert Morris have all punched their tickets to the NCAA Tournament. North Dakota State appears well on their way to the NCAA Tournament as well.
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St. Mary’s over Gonzaga?
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@Marco doesn’t look like it, up 12 with 10 minutes to go. Game is on ESPN currently
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@kjayhawks lol, that was earlier.
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@Marco the game is live right now on ESPN bud.
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@kjayhawks I know, that is what I was watching. It was tight then.
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@Marco I see, Gonzaga ended up spanking them.
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@kjayhawks said in 2020 Bubble Watch:
@Marco I see, Gonzaga ended up spanking them.
Saint Mary’s was up 5 at one point late in the 1st half when I checked on my (when I posted the 3 automatic bids from the early games actually) and only down 1 at halftime. Gonzaga smoked them in the 2nd half.
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Gonzaga and NDSU each rolled to easy wins to wrap their bids.
Gonzaga will be the 1 seed out west and probably the 2nd overall seed behind KU.
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Recap
Automatic bids given out today:
CAA: Hofstra
Horizon: Northern Kentucky
Ivy: Yale (Regular season champs since Ivy cancelled their post season tournament)
NEC: Robert Morris (potential 1st round KU opponent)
Summit: North Dakota St.
WCC: Gonzaga
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There are no automatic bids on the line tomorrow, but there are several games involving bubble teams as all the major conferences will get underway tomorrow if they weren’t already underway (ACC). I believe the American will be the only conference tournament not underway tomorrow as they start on Thursday.
In the ACC, NC State takes on Pitt in a game the Wolfpack must win to stay in the mix.
In the Big 10, Indiana will take on Nebraska in a game the Hoosiers must win. Nebraska actually added a couple of football players to the basketball team because of how shorthanded they are now with a couple of suspensions that got handed out.
In the PAC 12, Stanford takes on Cal in a game the Cardinal have to win to get a crack at UCLA in what should amount to an elimination game from the NCAA Tournament for those two. A loss to Cal will send Haase to the NIT.
In the SEC, Arkansas takes on Vanderbilt in a game the Razorbacks must win to whatever hopes they have left alive.
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Okie State edges ISU in a back-and-forth finish to open the B12 tourney. Cowboys face KU tomorrow.
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@nwhawkfan the refs edged ISU garbage calls late put okie state at the line often in the last 5 minutes.
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DePaul knocks Xavier out of the Big East tournament. Musketeers were already on the bubble.
Ex-Jayhawk Charlie Moore with 18 points (including 4 threes) and 9 assists for the Blue Demons.
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Xavier goes down in the 1st round of the Big East Tournament to DePaul. This will probably bump Xavier into the NIT.
Stanford also probably blew any tournament hopes they had with a loss to Cal.
Arkansas got a 13 point win over Vanderbilt to keep their chances alive.
Indiana with a 25 point win today over Nebraska. Obviously not the story in this game with the Fred Hoiberg situation and Nebraska’s players being quarantined inside their locker room right now. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the B10 Tournament if Hoiberg or someone tests positive for COVID-19.
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@nwhawkfan yeah!
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@Texas-Hawk-10 maybe it’s the flu, he’d be awfully stupid w/his heart problem not to be seeing a dr.
