Bracketology Bubble Watch: North Carolina, Nebraska stay alive; West Virginia, Georgia look to build résumés
North Carolina beat another ACC also-ran in Florida State on Monday to stay afloat while waiting to get its shot at Duke. The Tar Heels have Quad 3 and 4 conference games before that matchup with the Blue Devils. There are only three major conference teams that are Quad 4 opponents: Boston College (home games only), Miami and Seton Hall (home and neutral).
Nebraska lost a rock fight 49-46 at home to Michigan. That is not fatal for the Cornhuskers, but they have home games left with Minnesota and Iowa surrounding a trip to Ohio State. The home games are pretty much "must win."
There are six bubble teams in action Tuesday including two Big 12 teams and a conference leader.
Check out Palm's latest bracket, full field of 68 and Bubble Watch at the Bracketology hub
All times ET
Bubble teams in action Tuesdayvs. Baylor, 7 p.m. | ESPN2, , fubo (Try for free)
The margin for error for the Bearcats is almost gone. They have four regular season games left including two at home. The only game they can afford to lose is at Houston. Good thing, because they probably will lose it anyway. They need quad 1 wins, especially over likely tournament teams and this is the only other chance Cincinnati has besides that game at Houston.
vs. Florida, 7 p.m. | SEC Network, fubo (Try for free)
Georgia needs wins of any kind right now. They are just 16-11 overall and 8-11 against the top three quadrants. A win here would be huge, of course, but a loss means their last three games (at Texas, at South Carolina, vs. Vanderbilt) are "must win."
at Richmond, 7 p.m. | CBS Sports Network (Channel finder)
The new leaders of the Atlantic 10 take a bus across town to meet their city rivals. Richmond is having an uncharacteristically rough season so this is a quad 4 game for VCU. I don't think the Rams can afford to lose to anyone, but especially a Quad 4 team.
vs. TCU, 9 p.m. | CBS Sports Network (Channel finder)
West Virginia needs to take care of business on its home floor against the Horned Frogs and UCF to end the regular season. They have their Utah trip in between, which figures to be a challenge. That is why the home games are so important.
at Santa Clara, 11 p.m. | CBS Sports Network (Channel finder)
This feels like a game Gonzaga should win, but they lost the first meeting at home to the Broncos 103-99. That is just one of a handful of surprising results involving the Bulldogs this season. A win for Gonzaga would be their fourth best of the campaign.
vs. New Mexico, 11 p.m. | FS1, fubo (Try for free)
The Aztecs are probably celebrating Houston's clinching of the Big 12 title on Monday because their win over the Cougars is by far their best. It would be for almost anyone. Their only other win over a team likely to be in the bracket came against Creighton. Utah State swept them, completing the job last Saturday. They will try to avoid the same fate against the league leading Lobos.
Teams near the cut line NCAA Tournament locksLocks based on résumé: 20 | At-large bids in play: 17| Automatic bids secured: 0 of 31
| ACC (1) | Duke |
| Big East (2) | Marquette, St. John's |
| Big 12 (3) | Houston, Iowa State, Texas Tech |
| Big Ten (7) | Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Oregon, Purdue, UCLA, Wisconsin |
| SEC (7) | Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas A&M |
Note – all references to NCAA Tournament selection records and trends based on NET rankings excludes the 2021 tournament. Due to shortened schedules and a relatively small number of nonconference games, those rankings are not reliable enough to be considered.
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