The One Stop Shop has more than 1/3 of the 30 brackets complete now. The WCC is also set after last night's results and I will update those tonight. The conference tourney season begins today!!!
The Lockbox is also filling up. And, with lots of teams losing, some teams that have played well lately are getting into the mix. Virginia Tech, New Mexico, South Alabama, Oklahoma State, UAB, and Temple have been trending up at a time when most of the Bubble is crashing (Texas A&M, Maryland, most of the A10 Bubble Boys, etc).
Tomorrow, we'll look at the remaining schedules for some of the Bubble Boys and see who has a leg up in that department.
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.
--23 teams have LOCKED their spots.
--5 other teams are in fantastic shape. They are listed as "virtual locks" in lower case black font in the Lockbox. Twelve of the LOCKS or virtual locks are conference leaders. That means that fourteen At-Large bids are spoken for at this point. It is hard to imagine any of these teams missing even with a few games to go. This could change, but most if not all of these teams are not going anywhere.
--I have six teams listed in blue today. With the LOCKS and "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 bottom is rough and the Bubble is very crowded. Some of this will sort out this week and in the conference tourneys. Hopefully, some of these teams will clear things up with a strong finish.
--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 Kansas 109, Texas Tech 51. And it wasn't as close as the score indicates. All I can say is: WOW.
--at West Virginia 76, Pittsburgh 62. WVA can breathe fairly easy barring a loss at St. John's to end the season which could push them back onto the Bubble. Pitt is still probably OK, but they should go ahead and drill DePaul to remove all doubt.
Tonight's GOI
--Purdue at Ohio State. The Bucks have this one and then Michigan State at home to end the season. These two games will likely decide their bid status. Win both? IN. Split? Bubble. Lose both: OUT.
--UNLV at New Mexico. Rebs are in pretty good shape. Lobos can probably get on the good side of the Bubble with a win.
--Wake Forest at Virginia Tech. Hokies need to keep rolling to have any shot.
CONFERENCE TOURNEYS
And so it begins!!!
--Big South Quarters
--Horizon First Round
--Ohio Valley Quarters
