Bubble Banter: Who helped their tournament chances?

WEDNESDAY’S BUBBLE WINNERS

Creighton: The Bluejays desperately needed to pick up a win on the road against Bradley, and they did just that, smacking the Braves by a score of 80-62. Doug McDermott, who has struggled of late, went for 32 points and 11 boards. The Bluejays had come in losing six of their last 11 games, putting a team once thought to be among the top 15 in the country back into the bubble conversation. Creighton hosts Wichita State on Saturday for the MVC regular season title and then will had to St. Louis for Arch Madness. Creighton should be OK barring two straight losses.

Kentucky: It’s tough to call a team a ‘winner’ when they beat this Mississippi State team at home, but Kentucky simply had to avoid losing to the Bulldogs to keep themselves in the NCAA tournament picture. They did just that. UK still has work to do, however: they play at Arkansas (which is one of the toughest home environments in the SEC), at Georgia and then host Florida.

Boise State: The Broncos kept their tournament hopes alive with a blowout win over Nevada at home tonight. BSU still has work to do, but they’ll have plenty of chances to play their way into a bid: the Broncos host Colorado State, play at UNLV, and then host SDSU.

Baylor: The Bears desperately needed tonight’s win over West Virginia to snap a string of six losses in eight games heading into the most important stretch of their season. Baylor hosts Kansas State and Kansas, as well as travel to Austin to take on Texas. The Bears need to win at least two games to be able to play their way into an at-large bid in the Big 12 tournament.

Ole Miss: The Rebels are in a tough spot right now. They don’t have great computer numbers, their only top 50 win is over Missouri at home, and they lost to South Carolina. That’s not good. They cannot afford to lose to anyone at the bottom of the SEC. On Wednesday, they handled Texas A&M at home. They’ll need to win out and probably pick up a few wins in the SEC tournament.

Akron: The Zips went into Ohio, erased an 18 point lead and knocked off the No. 2 team in the MAC in overtime. Akron has now won 19 straight games and is undefeated in league play. Their resume may not be strong enough to garner an at-large bid, however; they’re just 4-3 against the top 100 with Middle Tennessee State being their only top 50 win.

St. Mary’s: If the Gaels are going to get an at-large bid, they need to win out until the WCC title game and then lose to Gonzaga. That’s the only way. They could not lose to Pepperdine on Wednesday, and they didn’t. They won by 39 points.

Belmont: The Bruins won a share of the Ohio Valley regular season title tonight, but they are a bit of a longshot to earn an at-large bid that this point. Seven top 100 wins are nice, but only one of them — Middle Tennessee State — is really all that noteworthy. The Bruins also have a couple of questionable losses. Losing in the OVC title may not be enough.

NC State: The Wolfpack will be fine as long as they avoid bad losses. They beat Boston College, which would have been a bad loss. Good job.