North Carolina let another chance at a Quad 1 win slip away against Duke at home on Saturday. Chances for the Tar Heels to make the 2023 NCAA Tournament are dwindling, but not gone yet. Vanderbilt kept its thin hopes tourney alive with a win at home over fellow bubbler Mississippi State. The Commodores will likely have to make a splash in the SEC Tournament, but that cannot happen until they get to Kentucky in the quarterfinal. The Bulldogs open SEC Tournament play with Florida, which could very well be a must-win game. After that, a great opportunity awaits with No. 1 seed Alabama.
Boise State lost at Utah State on Saturday night, continuing the trend of Mountain West chasers winning at home and losing on the road vs. other contenders. Those two, along with Nevada, split the home-and-home series with each other. Only Utah State was unable to beat San Diego State in the regular season. That, along with two Quad 4 losses, is why the Aggies lag behind the others in the race to get into the field.
Iowa State had lost eight of its last ten and kicked its third-leading scorer off the team. Then, the Cyclones knocked off Baylor in Waco, completing a season sweep of the Bears and securing their spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The American Athletic Conference and Big Ten complete their regular seasons today, and there is plenty of bubble action in those leagues.
NCAA Tournament locks
Locks based on résumé: 27 | Bids secured: 2 | At-large spots remaining: 29
| Conference | Locks | Teams |
|---|---|---|
ACC | 3 | |
Big East | 4 | |
Big Ten | 4 | |
Big 12 | 5 | Baylor, Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Iowa State |
Pac-12 | 2 | |
SEC | 5 | |
1 | ||
Others | 3 |
On the cutline
| Last Four In | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|
| Rutgers | 28-12 | 37 |
| Penn State | 18-12 | 57 |
| Mississippi State | 20-11 | 46 |
| Michigan | 17-13 | 53 |
| First Four Out | Record | NET |
| Oklahoma State | 17-14 | 43 |
| Wisconsin | 16-13 | 78 |
| Utah State | 24-7 | 21 |
| North Carolina | 19-12 | 49 |
| Next Four Out | Record | NET |
| Arizona State | 20-11 | 65 |
| Clemson | 22-9 | 61 |
| Oregon | 18-13 | 47 |
| Vanderbilt | 18-13 | 82 |
Check out all the teams on Palm's Bubble Watch, the field of the 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub
Bubble teams in action Sunday
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| vs. Houston, 12 p.m. | CBS, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App (Free) -- It's the best chance for Memphis to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Knocking off the top-ranked Cougars should do the job if the Tigers do not give it away somewhere else down the line with a bad loss If they lose here, they can get another crack at Houston in the AAC Tournament, although that would be in the championship game. | |
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| Vs. Maryland, 12 p.m. | Big Ten Network, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Penn State needs to take care of its home court against one of the worst road teams in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions might avoid having to make an extended run through the conference tournament if they can knock off the Terps today. | |
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| At Indiana, 4:30 p.m. |CBS, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports App (Free) -- Michigan does not absolutely have to win this game, but it should; it would make what is required of the Wolverines in the conference tournament a little easier. A win at Assembly Hall would be the best of the season for Michigan. | |
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| Vs. Northwestern, 7:30 p.m. | Big Ten Network, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Scarlet Knights are coming off their worst loss of the season at Minnesota and are now below .500 against the top three quadrants. After a hot start to conference play, the Wildcats have lost three in a row, so Rutgers may be catching them at a good time. | |
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| At Minnesota, 7:30 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free) -- For Wisconsin, it's do or do not; there is no try. Win this game and live to fight another day or win the conference tournament. So far, the Badgers have not lost to a team outside the top 100 of the NET. It has to stay that way. | |
All references to NCAA Tournament selection records and trends refer only to tournaments going back to 1994 with the exception of 2021. Due to shortened schedules and a relatively small number of nonconference games in 2021, those rankings were not reliable enough to be considered.
