Friday's Action Lowdown

Okay, I suppose I can do one more day of updates. After yesterday’s bloodbath, it would be hard not to say anything. Bottom line, does anyone want to get invited to the Dance? Nearly every bubble team lost yesterday, and many of those losses were rather embarrassing. Let’s look at this list.

Embarrassing (and likely eliminating) losses:
UAB (Tulsa – RPI 105), Houston (UTEP – 93), Florida (Alabama – 102), Maryland (Boston College – 124), Ole Miss (Georgia – 137), New Mexico (Utah – 98)

It should be noted that Baylor also fell to Colorado (157), arguably the worst loss of any bubble team yesterday, but Baylor’s profile is markedly better than the rest of these teams. As such, they still have a decent chance to make the tournament. Their profile isn’t spectacular, but they do have wins over Notre Dame, Texas A&M, and Kansas State, and other than the loss to Colorado, no losses outside the top 100.

Missed Opportunities:
Arizona (Stanford), Oregon (Washington State), UMass (Charlotte), Villanova (Georgetown), Arizona State (USC), Dayton (Xavier)

Other than Massachusetts’ loss to Charlotte, all of these losses came against teams that are locks to make the tournament. A win would have been an excellent opportunity to put an exclamation point on their tournament resumes, but surprisingly, all fell short.

Staying on Track:
Kent State (Toledo – 187), Texas A&M (Iowa State – 171), UNLV (TCU – 197), St. Joe’s (Richmond - 119), Temple (La Salle – 161)

Sure, they all won, but they didn’t exactly improve their profiles. All of these teams faced opponents with RPI’s of over 100. The next round of games will definitely provide a challenge, and an opportunity to make a statement, specifically St. Joe’s and Texas A&M, against Xavier and Kansas State, respectively.

Idle:
Kansas State, Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, Kentucky, Arkansas

If you don’t play, you can’t lose. These teams benefited while watching their bubble competition go down in flames.

Statement Wins:
Pitt (Louisville), West Virginia (UConn), Miami (NC State)

I said earlier that these teams simply need to not embarrass themselves and they would advance. Pitt and West Virginia certainly accomplished that by knocking off Big East big dogs. Miami’s opponent was not as impressive, but even a loss to their next round opponent Virginia Tech won’t knock them out of the tournament.

With the way things are going, maybe a team like Florida State or Oklahoma State could sneak into the mix. Of course, both face off against the one seeds in their tournaments. Florida State takes on UNC and OSU faces Texas. Florida State swept Miami and beat Clemson, and they took UNC to overtime last time they played. Oklahoma State has won six of its last eight, including a win over Kansas. They’ve played Texas tough twice, although they did lose both of those games. With the sad shape of the bubble, a big win by either FSU or OSU could at least get them into the at-large discussion.