Good morning college basketball fans. We typically wait until Saturday night to update this, but with a few key results last night and Selection Sunday only eight days away, we efforted a morning post for you.
With St. Louis’ win over UMass Friday, we have added their game today against St. Bonaventure as another Bubble Watch game today!
Read below for the other winners and losers from last night’s action!
Friday’s Winners:
St. Louis (beat UMass 86-72): Travis Ford squad jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead in its Atlantic-10 quarterfinal win. They advanced to play St. Bonaventure in today’s semifinal round. They will need another win and a big performance from Javonte Perkins, who had 25 points against the Minuteman. They are now the second team out in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN latest Bracketology. That makes today another must-win for the Billikens.
Georgia Tech (beat Wake Forest 75-63): The Ramblin’ Wreck are wrecking other bubble teams' hopes with each win. That’s six in a row for head coach Josh Pastner’s squad. They are now among The Last Four Bye category according to Lunardi, which moves them off Bubble Watch. They can clinch a double-bye in the ACC Tournament should Louisville lose to Virginia today.
VCU and Drake were also winner’s Friday, although VCU was the only team to win on the court. They joined Georgia Tech as a Last Four Bye team to win when they beat Dayton 73-68 to advance to the other Atlantic 10 semifinal today.
Drake, who is one of The Last Four Teams In, on the other hand, advanced when Northern Iowa had a Covid-19 positive test among Tier 1 personnel on Thursday. Drake would serve itself well by beating Missouri State in today’s Missouri Valley Conference semifinal.
Friday’s Losers:
Colorado State (lost to Nevada 85-82): Nevada’s Grant Sherfield made a three-pointer with 0.8 seconds left to upend the Rams and keep them from climbing to Last Four Bye status heading into the Mountain West Conference tournament.
You can add Western Kentucky to this list. They sealed their fate that they will need to win the Conference USA Tournament to clinch a berth with a 71-69 home loss to Old Dominion.
Saturday, March 6 Bubble Watch Games
Seton Hall and St. Louis are the two teams on the hot seat of today’s Bubble Watch schedule.
Seton Hall vs St. John’s - 7:00 pm FS1
Seton Hall has lost three in a row and in danger of missing the tournament. This falls into the MUST win category. The Pirates (13-11, 10-8; NCAA NET 56) are The FIRST Team out in that four-team pod. There’s nowhere to go but up, but to do that, a win over the Red Storm is necessary.
St. Louis vs St. Bonaventure - 6:00 pm CBSS
St. Louis is your other proverbial bubble team. They are The SECOND Team out according to Lunardi as noted above. That makes today a MUST win scenario and MUST watch game for college basketball fans.
Duke vs UNC - 6:00 pm ESPN
The Blue Devils are in The Last Four Out status after losses to Louisville and Georgia Tech. They can climb back into consideration with a win at UNC. Duke (11-10, 9-8; NCAA NET 58) would fall into the must-win the conference tournament category with a loss.
Xavier vs Marquette - 9:00 pm FS1
Xavier (13-6; 6-6; NCAA NET 53) has gone 2-4 in their last six games to put them in a position where this final regular-season is important. The Musketeers are in The Last Four In category and a loss will only make the Big East Tournament that much more important. Xavier only has one Quad 1 win. This won’t add to that count, but a loss would be worse.
Utah State vs Fresno State - 11 pm FS1
Utah State (16-7, 14-4; NCAA NET 47) will look to win its fourth game in a row heading into the Mountain West Conference Tournament. A win will also keep their at-large selection a possibility. They are the Second Team Out according to Lunardi, so a loss would put them in the category of needing to win the conference tournament, which they have done the last two years by the way.
The other games to keep an eye on from former Bubble Watch teams: UConn/Georgetown, Minnesota/Rutgers, Indiana/Purdue, and Ole Miss/Vandy.