This Week's Key Bubble Games

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

Here is a quick look at games this week that can influence IU's chances of making the tournament should Indiana take care of business of course.

Basic math remains the same...approximately 4 spots up for grabs among 11 bubble teams.

32 Automatic Bids
25 Locks (I moved up Xavier and SMU this week)
7 "Safe" Teams (Saint Joe's, Stanford, Colorado, Oklahoma St, Baylor, Cal, BYU)
11 Bubble Teams, some more realistic than others.


Bubble Team Table

If you count down 7 teams (those are the "safe" ones), then you get to the four teams that are probably in...for now.

Arkansas, Oregon, Minnesota, Tennessee are in, according to most projections.
Following those are the teams scrambling to work their way back in; Providence, Missouri, St. John's and a resurgent Florida State.
And then Nebraska, Dayton and Georgetown still have a pulse but they need some help or a few wins.


Key Games This Week

MONDAY

Kansas State at Oklahoma State (8:00 - ESPN) - big game for the Cowboys and seeding on the line for K State.
TUESDAY

Iowa State at Baylor (6:00 ESPN2)
Florida State at Boston College (8:00 ESPNU)
Marquette at Providence (8:00 FoxSprts1)
Arizona State at Oregon (10:00)
WEDNESDAY

Nebraska at Indiana (6:00 BTN)
Tennessee at Auburn (7:00)
Texas A&M at Missouri (7:00)
Ole Miss at Arkansas (7:00)
Colorado at Stanford (8:00 ESPN)
THURSDAY and FRIDAY

nothing of significance
SATURDAY

Penn State at Minnesota (7:30 BTN)
St. John's at Marquette (11:00 AM FoxSprts1)
Baylor at Kansas State (12:30)
Oklahoma State at Iowa State (1:00 ESPN)
Utah at Stanford (1:30)
Arizona at Oregon (3:00 CBS)
Missouri at Tennessee (3:00 ESPN)
Arkansas at Alabama (3:00)
Colorado at Cal (5:30)
Providence at Creighton (7:00)
SUNDAY

Wisconsin at Nebraska (6:30 BTN)
Syracuse at Florida State (1:00)



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[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

Got that from the Daily Gopher, obviously had a Minnesota slant to it, but it's still pretty damn good work and we can benefit from their work. Check out their article for a nice chart breaking down all the teams. They mention Indiana, but don't include them in the tables... YET :)

http://www.thedailygopher.com/2014/3/3/5466970/ncaa-tournament-bracketology-gopher-basketball-resume-watch-life-on


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[Hovadipo 61,312]

Wow. Awesome article there. I'll be referring to that quite a bit this week.


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[LIHoosier 27,692]

It was mentioned briefly in the beginning of that article, but fans of those in the bubble should be rooting for chalk in some of the conference tourneys. Wichita St is the most obvious one, but also Stephen F. Austin (Southland), N. Dakota St (Summit), and UW-Green Bay(Horizon) may steal an at-large bid if they don't get the automatic bid. The Valley tournament is early; the final is this coming Sunday.

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

[quote name="LIHoosier" post="44349" timestamp="1393905207"]It was mentioned briefly in the beginning of that article, but fans of those in the bubble should be rooting for chalk in some of the conference tourneys. Wichita St is the most obvious one, but also Stephen F. Austin (Southland) and N. Dakota St (Summit) may steal an at-large bid if they don't get the automatic bid. The Valley tournament is early; the final is this coming Sunday.[/quote]

I really have a feeling Indiana State is going to screw us over and take our spot... Hope I'm wrong


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[Hovadipo 61,312]

[quote name="IU Hoosier41" post="44353" timestamp="1393905394"]I really have a feeling Indiana State is going to screw us over and take our spot... Hope I'm wrong


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They're good at losing games they need. Wouldn't be surprised to see them bow out early in the MVC. Plus their only big time win is ND (with Jerian). They have a few really bad losses. Tulsa and Illinois State come to mind.


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[HoosierSadaseci 2,992]

Who would have thought last week that this week we'd be worried about the bubble, and other bubble teams? My what a couple wins over Top 25 teams in the same week will do for a struggling team whose season was swooning. Need a couple more wins though to be seriously considered as a bubble team. IMO.

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

Honestly, I think we should be most concerned with Minnesota and Nebraska. The Big Ten is a 6 team league this year. I honestly don't see 7 getting in unless IU, Minn, Neb (2 of those) make a deep run in the BTT or win.

Therefore, the rest of the bubble isn't that important to IU right now. We need Minnesota to lose out and Nebraska to lose out and both teams to not make runs in the Big ten tournament.

5 Big ten teams are locks... It's that 6th spot we are all fighting for.


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[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

From ESPN's Bubble Watch: Meanwhile, the aforementioned Hoosiers followed up last week's win over Iowa with Sunday's home win over Ohio State (without injured forward Noah Vonleh to boot). That has IU fans suddenly optimistic about a tournament berth, but they shouldn't be: Indiana's still just 17-12 overall and 7-9 in the Big Ten with more wins against teams ranked outside the RPI top 150 (9-0) than within it (8-12). Indiana needs to beat Nebraska and win at Michigan and then get some help in the Big Ten tournament, and even then, it's a long shot. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

[HoosierRob 1,042]

I'm puzzled to that.. For instance .. Uk has 1 top 25 win all year but are considered a lock in one of the worst conferences.. With some bad losses (USC,lsu) but iu is needs all the help in the world to get in.. I know we have some bad losses too nd a weak schedule.. But 4 top 25 wins.. I would think would outweigh the bad losses.. Maybe it's just me


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[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

Goes down to wins and losses for each on that line item. Kentucky has more wins and less losses. 22-8 is an automatic berth for a BCS Conference team, regardless of who they beat.


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[Bowhunter 3,120]

I'm puzzled to that.. For instance .. Uk has 1 top 25 win all year but are considered a lock in one of the worst conferences.. With some bad losses (USC,lsu) but iu is needs all the help in the world to get in.. I know we have some bad losses too nd a weak schedule.. But 4 top 25 wins.. I would think would outweigh the bad losses.. Maybe it's just me


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I hear ya Rob.. just wish we would have scheduled a tougher nonconference. That's what it comes down to.

[IU Hoosier41 14,465]

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