ATR: Bubble tighter with Butler’s loss …

The Butler did it.  Cleveland State beat the Bulldogs to claim the Horizon League’s automatic bid.  Butler is going to receive an at-large bid, so there’s one less spot now available as we prepare for all the major conferences to start action on Thursday.

Also from Tuesday, congratulations to North Dakota State which earns the bid from the Summit in the school’s first  year of Division I eligibility.  Western Kentucky won the Sun Belt title and returns to the Dance for a second straight year.

Upset day in the opening round of Big East play saw Cincinnati get bounced by formerly winless (in league) DePaul.  Georgetown leaves early courtesy of St. John’s.  Both are now officially eliminated from at-large consideration.  Notre Dame did win it’s game against Rutgers to advance.  Today’s game with West Virginia will determine whether the Irish keep at-large hopes alive.

The next bracket update will be out later today and will reflect the updates through Tuesday.  I’ll try to provide daily updates from here on out (or as needed).

Dave the Bracketguy.

ATR: Quick takes from Saturday (3/7) …

Welcome back to Around the Rim.  Here are some quick takes from action on March 7 …

Radford (Big South), Morehead State (OVC), and East Tennessee State (Atlantic Sun) punched their dance tickets.

Butler and Cleveland State advanced to the Horizon championship on Tuesday.  Bubble teams will be rooting for the host Bulldogs. … Semifinals are set in the Colonial, Southern, America East, MAAC, and West Coast.  The No. 1 seeds in each league are still alive – including Davidson. 

Around the Rim: Bracket Buster implications

In terms of NCAA Tournament importance, this year’s Bracket Busters was a bit light regarding at-large selection, save these teams: Butler, Davidson, Utah State, St. Mary’s, Siena.  For the Bulldogs, Wildcats, Aggies, Gaels and Saints, the 2009 Bracket Buster plays out like this …

Butler Bulldogs – The win at Davidson gives BU another quality out-of-conference win on the road (Xavier was the other).  The Bulldogs also beat UAB (a potential bubble team) and played close at Ohio State – when David Lighty was healthy.  Granted Stephen Curry was not 100 percent for this one, the Butler’s “D” locked him up.  There are no guarantees, but this win will help the Bulldogs on Selection Sunday.

BV Bracketology: Several spots up for grabs

It’s nothing new this time of year.  We often see a weak – i.e fluid – bubble.  Which means the middle and bottom of the bracket may see a variety of changes over the next two weeks. 

The latest Bracketville ‘09 update is now posted in Bracketology.

Take for example the Mountain West.  While we still see four teams in the bracket, all four are seeded 8 through 12.  Several reasons for this: lack of separation and lack of strong NCAA profiles.  UNLV has the best non-league performance with wins at Louisville and over Arizona.  Utah has by far the best power numbers (RPI and SOS).  The four league leaders all play each other as we race toward March.