Editor’s note: This article is part of the Bracket Central series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s & women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.
Selection Sunday is just a hop, skip and a jump away, which means the men’s NCAA Tournament bubble is really feeling the squeeze. Teams near the cutline sit on a knife’s edge; a key win or a bad loss can have a profound impact on their chances of earning an at-large bid.
The dwindling number of games before tourney time also opens up the doors for more teams to move toward safety. There simply isn’t enough time left for many teams to collapse and tumble out of the field.
BYU, for one, has erased any doubt: The Cougars will be wearing home jerseys in the Round of 64 thanks to a wildly impressive seven-game winning streak. Memphis and New Mexico have both dodged enough bad-loss traps and will be dancing no matter what happens in the next 10 days.
In the SEC, Vanderbilt picked up a huge win over Missouri last weekend to lock up a bid (even with Tuesday’s loss to Arkansas), and Georgia ripped off two more road wins to back up its vital victory over Florida. Georgia could probably be fairly called a Lock as well; Bart Torvik’s TourneyCast gives the Dawgs at a 99.6 percent chance…
