QT: Rough night for early bubble teams

Wednesday was a rather rough night for early bubble teams.  Let’s start with Florida.  There’s nothing wrong with losing at Tennessee, especially with Colin Castleton out of the lineup.  It’s the collective toll on the Gators’ resume that is concerning.  They have lost five of eight games, with the only notable win in that span a victory against Mississippi State.  Maybe the next stretch will serve as a turning point.  Florida gets Oklahoma State at home this weekend, followed by games against Missouri, Ole Miss and Georgia.  We’ll see if that slate is beneficial or detrimental.

QT: Kansas keeps B12 lead; UNC holds on

Kansas held off Texas Tech in two overtimes to maintain its Big 12 lead.  The Jayhawks have won five straight in advance of Saturday’s showdown with Kentucky.  Following the UK game, KU travels to Iowa State and hosts Baylor.  If the Jayhawks go 3-0 in that stretch, they will be in the driver’s seat for another Big 12 title and also for a No. 1 seed.

North Carolina earned a critical home win against Virginia Tech. The Tar Heels were among the First Four OUT on Monday.  From a NET perspective, beating VT adds a second Quad 2 win, moving the Heels to 2-6 against Q/s 1/2.  Next up: Boston College and NC State at home.  Safe to say, it would be best for UNC to sweep that double-dip in Chapel Hill.

Quick Takes: Saturday’s resume builders

It’s never a good idea to over react to a single result in college basketball.  We’ve seen plenty of instances when a “big” win is followed by a “questionable” loss.  Even so, let’s have a go at some Quick Take-aways from the final Saturday in January.

We’ll start with Florida.  The Gators went into Morgantown and exited with a victory over West Virginia.  While technically Tennessee is ranked higher in the current NET ratings, beating the Mountaineers on the road qualifies as UF’s biggest resume win to date.  The journey ahead isn’t easy – with trips to LSU, Tennessee and Arkansas on the horizon – but Florida got a major boost to its profile, regardless.  Now they need to make it stick.

Bracket Bits: Six teams that could still use opening round wins

With Utah State securing its Dance Ticket by upsetting San Diego State in the Mountain West championship game, we already have one less at-large spot available.  The Aggies might have made it regardless, but all doubts have been erased.

With that as a backdrop, here is a corresponding disclaimer:  The Bubble extends deeper into the bracket than it appears.

As we sit today, the 11-seed line contains all four play-in participants.  That means teams along the 10-seed line are hovering perilously close to the cutline.  Which also means that the nine-seeds are close enough to the edge of the Field that a poor week could leave them vulnerable to being passed.

Below is a quick peak at six teams above the immediate fray who could still benefit from at least one victory at conference tournaments this week …

Bracket Bits: The value of road wins

When the Selection Committee gathers in two months to select and seed teams for the 2020 NCAA tournament, road wins (and overall road performance) often serve as a separating factor when comparing Team Sheets.  Who did you beat?  And where did you beat them?

That’s not to suggest that home wins aren’t important or that the Committee ignores losses (home or road – or in high numbers), rather, it’s a reminder that true road wins are a bit like gold: hard to find but of great value.

With that caveat in place – and conference play now in full swing – we note a few of Tuesday’s victorious road warriors: Baylor (at Texas Tech), Kentucky (at Georgia), Villanova (at Creighton), Houston (at Temple), Providence (at Marquette) and Florida (at South Carolina).  If we ranked those, it might look like this: Villanova, Baylor, Kentucky, Providence, Houston, and Florida.