QT: Xavier builds its resume; Kansas survives

Xavier added a significant resume-building victory to its team sheet on Saturday by taking down previously unbeaten Connecticut at the Cintas Center.  XU improved to 2-3 against Quad 1 opponents, having also beaten West Virginia at home.  The Musketeers three losses are by a combined 13 points, all to Quad 1 teams.  They travel to Villanova next Saturday before a pair of home games with Creighton and Marquette.

Kansas rallied and then survived an upset bid by Oklahoma State.  The Jayhawks are now 6-1 against Quad 1-2 opponents.  Missed opportunity for the Cowboys, who entered Saturday among the Next 4 OUT grouping.  Predictive metrics are higher on OSU than results-based options; likely because the Cowboys’ best win remains Sam Houston State.  Huge week ahead for OSU with West Virginia and Texas coming to Stillwater.

QT: Carnage on the cutline, Sooners in trouble

One word may best describe Saturday’s results for teams along the cutline: carnage.  Of the eight teams that began the day among the First 4 OUT and Next 4 OUT on the Seed List, six of them lost – and another, San Diego State, lost Friday night.  Only Florida, which survived Ole Miss in overtime, escaped an otherwise complete meltdown.

West Virginia losing a close one at home to Texas Tech wasn’t be a big deal, except it was the Mountaineers seventh straight defeat.  Mississippi State hasn’t been able to get over the hump, and losing at Arkansas keeps that status in tact.  The only really bad loss was Texas AM falling at home to Missouri.  That one will sting the Aggies.

Quick Takes: Surprising losses for Oklahoma, Virginia

Oklahoma and Virginia absorbed surprising losses Tuesday night.  We won’t know exactly how those miscues impact each team’s resume until later in the season, but neither was ideal, that’s for sure.

Perhaps the Sooners were looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup with Arkansas – especially after knocking off Florida last Wednesday at the Lloyd Norman Center.  Regardless, Butler entered the arena without several key players, which makes the upset all the more unexpected.  Good win for Butler.  A suspect defeat for OU.

With the loss at James Madison, Virginia how has L’s to Navy and JMU on its non-conference resume.  In a vacuum, team’s lose.  The bigger issue for UVA appears to be consistency.  The team that showed up at JMU looked nothing like the group that beat Providence by 18 and took high-scoring Iowa down the wire in Charlottesville.  So we have this question: Which team shows up on any given night?  Until that gets answered, it’s hard to get a read on UVA’s standing.

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 …

Quick Takes: Oklahoma’s Bubble win; Duke’s loss to Wake

Let’s start on a positive note.  Oklahoma picked up a needed Quadrant 1 victory against Texas Tech in Norman.  It boosted the Sooners to 4-9 vs. Quad 1 teams (not great, but four of its losses are to Kansas and Baylor); it was also, based on the NCAA’s NET Ratings, their first Quad 1A (Top Tier) victory of the season.  At least for today, OU can smile.  Next up, a trip to Morgantown, followed by dates with Texas (home) and TCU (road).  We’ll see if the Sooners can keep improving an overall mark of 17-11. (See note on Texas Tech below)

Meanwhile, Duke lost at Wake Forest.  Although technically a Quad 2 road loss (so not horrible), it does raise questions as to how the Selection Committee will view Duke’s seeding profile unless the Blue Devils beat Louisville and/or Florida State in the ACC tourney.  While analytics love the Blue Devils (Top 10 in all metrics listed on Team Sheets heading into Tuesday), the ACC simply hasn’t offered its usual chances for high-end wins.  As of this morning, Duke has three (3) wins over current tournament teams and is 4-3 vs. Quadrant 1.  By comparison, the top Big East schools vying for spots on the Top 3 lines have much better totals: Creighton (9-6), Villanova (8-6), Seton Hall (10-5).