Not every SEC team can make this bracket
Greetings, BBN!
Last week, San Diego State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Wake Forest were the Last Four In. The Aztecs are finally in Last Four Byes territory now, but one misstep could send them right back there. Oklahoma is now 4-13 in the SEC, absolutely testing to the limit how putrid of a conference record you can have and still get an at-large bid. Arkansas continued their climb until this morning, when they took an atrocious loss at South Carolina that will certainly cost them in the next bracket projection, and Wake Forest did the same thing as the Hogs except against 14-14 Virginia and at home!
This week, Indiana and Ohio State are still alive and kicking, squeezing out enough Big Ten wins to stay on the bubble as time runs out. They’ll face off in their regular season finales against each other in Bloomington in a massive double-bubble game next weekend. Texas is on the ropes after their brutal overtime L against Arkansas, followed up by their home beatdown against Georgia. Not every SEC team not named South Carolina and LSU can make the bracket—somebody’s got to be the odd man out. “This bracket ain’t big enough for the 14 of us!”
Here’s the complete Bracket Bubble Watch from ESPN’s bracketology:
Bracket Bubble Watch (March 1st, 10:30pm)
Notes:
- The Hoosiers scored an absolutely massive and essential home win over Purdue and followed it up with a not-so-massive but even more essential take-care-of-business win at home against Penn State. Now they are on a two-game west coast trip against Washington and Oregon.
- Ohio State stopped its losing skid against USC on Wednesday and finished up with Nebraska and Indiana. With a 16-13 record, it is critical they win both of those games and avoid a 14th loss before the Big Ten Tournament.
- North Carolina just won’t go away, and the ACC just won’t eliminate them. They’ve won five in a row and haven’t moved up an inch, because almost all five of those teams don’t even have winning overall records! Meanwhile, in the SEC, only South Carolina has a losing overall record.