With many conferences around the country finally hitting the midway point, the talk of the NCAA tournament bubble is inching closer to boiling point. This week, analyst William Whelan takes a look at five teams who are trending up or down, and whether or not they would be in the tournament if Selection Sunday were today.
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Where does American Athletic Conference leader Tulsa stand as of today? Frank Haith’s Golden Hurricanes are 16-5 and winners of 11 straight as they’ve yet to drop a game in conference. However, they don’t have many marquee wins and some early season losses to the likes of Oral Roberts and South East Oklahoma State are two pretty damning scars on the resume.
There are a ton of bubble teams in the SEC logjam behind Kentucky. One such ball club is the Georgia Bulldogs, who have dropped two straight but still seem to be trending upwards, considering they competed well with the aforementioned Wildcats in their last game. Despite the 5-4 conference mark, Mark Fox’s team should be in the tournament if they can avoid letdown losses the rest of the way in the SEC.
Another contender in the conference, Texas A&M, right now right now has sole control of the coveted second spot in the SEC rankings. The Aggies have completely outperformed preseason expectations with their 15-5 standing and have won their last six games as they seem to be solidifying a spot in the bracket. However, they may need more quality road wins to stick out in the committee’s eyes on Selection Sunday.
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Out west in the Pac-12, the UCLA Bruins got a much-needed, quality win against Utah. The Bruins have been one of the most disappointing teams in the country up to this point, but still have a RPI ranking of 59 that gives Steve Alford’s group some hope to cling on to going forward. More big wins against the Pac-12’s top teams will be vital going forward if UCLA has any chance to make the tournament.
Washington has been another disappointing team in a conference that houses three or four of the countries most underwhelming clubs. Lorenzo Romar’s group has fallen apart since the start of conference play and the dismissal of Robert Upshaw has only made things worse. The Huskies, like their Pac-12 counterpart, may be in real trouble come March.
