Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Lockbox Update 3/11

The Lockbox has been updated. There are technically 12 Bubble spots, but it feels like less.

I really labored between BYU and Providence for the last spot, eventually opting for the Cougars. But, it is essentially a coin flip. Xavier, Tennessee, and Arkansas are the others that are really close to the edge with Dayton, Pitt, and St. Joe's a bit safer.

Beyond that, it seems like it would take some bid-stealing or very poor showings to knock out teams like Nebraska, Stanford, Arizona State or Oklahoma State. If Gonzaga loses, they could fall into that "not totally safe" Bubble mix as well.

The Bubble by the Numbers
--32 Automatic Bids. That number will not change this season. Black italics means a team is the projected auto-bid for that conference.
--36 At-Large Bids (AL). That is also a static number.
--Currently, 22 AL teams are listed as LOCKS or are in blackThe black teams are in great shape and are likely one win away from LOCK.
--I have two other AL teams listed in blue, which means they could conceivably miss, but I'd be very surprised unless they tank badly in the first game of their tourney.
--That means 24 AL slots are taken, leaving the Bubble at 12 at the moment. Bubble-IN teams are in green, Bubble-OUT teams are in red.