Wednesday was a busy night on the bubble with mixed results. One team fell out of the bracket and was replaced by a team that got blown out. That isn't the kind of thing you see every day.
Ole Miss lost at home to Alabama and has dropped out of contention for now. The Rebels just don't have enough on the good side of the ledger to stay in the field. The MOV-based metrics despise Ole Miss, but the ones that are not MOV-dependent still have the Rebels around 40th.
Seton Hall moved into the field despite an 85-64 loss at Creighton. Road losses to good teams don't hurt as much, even by a wide margin. The Bluejays just did the same thing to UConn last week. Life is tough on the road. The NET cares a lot more about the margin than the committee does. There is still work to do for Seton Hall, though. The Pirates are only 10-10 vs the top three quadrants.
Providence also got blown out by Marquette. The Friars are still trying to fill some holes in their résumé, and there are a couple of regular-season games they can use to do that.
Tonight's action is light, but still important as Gonzaga and Utah, two of the last four in my bracket, take the floor.
Check out Palm's latest bracket, full field of 68 and Bubble Watch at the Bracketology hub
Bubble teams in action Thursday
| 1 |  |
| at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free) -- The Cornhuskers are not a great road team, which is what's keeping them from moving higher up the bracket. They do have a borderline Quad 1 road win at Kansas State. A win over the Buckeyes would be better than that, but neither are tournament-quality teams. | |
| 2 |  |
| vs. Stanford, 8:30 p.m. | Pac-12 Networks, fuboTV (Try for free) -- This is the first of three straight Quad 3 games for Utah, the first two of which are at home. Simply put, the Utes cannot afford another Quad 3 loss, home or away. | |
| 3 |  |
| at San Francisco, 11 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) -- This game is being played at the Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors play, but it is still considered a home game for the Dons. That makes it a Quad 1 game for Gonzaga, but USF is not an NCAA tournament team; not all Quad 1 wins are the same. It is must-win for the Bulldogs, but the most important game -- at Saint Mary's -- is the next one. | |
NCAA Tournament locks
Locks based on resume: 17 | AQ bids secured: 0 | At-large spots remaining: 19
| Conference | Locks | Teams |
|---|---|---|
ACC | 2 | Duke, North Carolina |
Big East | 3 | UConn, Marquette, Creighton |
Big Ten | 3 | Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin |
Big 12 | 4 | Houston, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas |
Pac-12 | 1 | Arizona |
SEC | 3 | Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn |
American | 0 | |
Others | 1 | San Diego State |
Near the cut line
| Last 4 In | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Colorado | 19-9 | 29 |
| Gonzaga | 22-6 | 21 |
| Utah | 16-11 | 53 |
 | Seton Hall | 18-10 | 64 |
| First 4 Out | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Providence | 18-10 | 56 |
 | Oregon | 19-9 | 63 |
 | Villanova | 16-12 | 32 |
 | Wake Forest | 18-10 | 27 |
| Next 4 Out | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Pittsburgh | 18-10 | 49 |
 | Kansas State | 17-11 | 74 |
 | Ole Miss | 19-9 | 77 |
 | St. John's | 17-12 | 40 |
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 non-conference games, those rankings are not reliable enough to be considered.
