The Bubble by the Numbers
--31 Automatic Bids. That number will not change this season.
--34 At-Large Bids. That also is a static number.
--21 teams are in fantastic shape. They are listed as "virtual locks" in lower case black font in the Lockbox. Nine of them are conference leaders. That means that twelve At-Large bids are virtual locks at this point. It is hard to imagine any of these teams missing even with several games to go. This could change, but most if not all of these teams are not going anywhere.
--Some of the "projected in, but need more validation teams" either moved up to virtual locks or slid back onto the Bubble this week. I have 11 teams listed in blue this week. One of those is a conference leader. With the "virtual locks" added to this group, that accounts for 22 At-Large bids that are not "bubble slots." Hence, 12 slots are up for grabs.
--The Bubble Boys who made it in are in green and those left out are in red in the Lockbox.
Last Night's GOI
--at Georgetown 55, Villanova 53. Cats were game, but this dropped them to 4-7 in the league.
--at Nevada 85, Utah State 80. Pack keeps regular season WAC title hopes alive.
--at Texas 72, Kansas 69. 'Horns positioning themselves for a shot at Big XII title. But, K-State is now alone in first.
Tonight's GOI
--Michigan State at Purdue. Sparty has played only five true road games: Bradley, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State. They lost to Iowa and Penn State. No reason to expect they will win at Purdue.
--Marquette at Seton Hall. SHU needs it badly to stay in the AL convo and Marquette has not been tearing it up lately. Interesting match up.
--Kentucky at Vanderbilt. Tonight's game is going to tell us a lot about Kentucky. The win over Tennessee in Rupp was big. But, their last four wins are against teams that are 9-25 in SEC play. A win over Vandy in Nashville will give them some legitimacy.
