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Bubble Banter: Kentucky was biggest Friday’s bubble loser

SEC Basketball Tournament - Quarterfinals - Vanderbilt v Kentucky

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 15: Kedren Johnson #2 of the Vanderbilt Commodores drives to the basket against Archie Goodwin #10 of the Kentucky Wildcats in the second half during the Quarterfinals of the SEC basketball tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 15, 2013 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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It’s a massive day for teams on the bubble’s cutline, as the Atlantic 10 and the SEC quarterfinals today could determine a handful of bids, for both the NCAA tournament and the NIT. Here are the teams that have hurt their bubble chances today:

Kentucky: With the number of other bubble teams that had already lost on Friday, the only thing that Kentucky needed to do to avoid serious bubble speculation was to beat Vanderbilt in the SEC quarterfinals. They couldn’t do that, however, getting blown out by a Vanderbilt team that, while improved, had lost 50-33 to Marist earlier this year. And with that, the Wildcats will now spend all weekend waiting and sweating out their tournament fate.

As of this morning, our Dave Ommen had Kentucky as the last team into the tournament, and losing to a team with an RPI outside the top 100 certainly won’t help matters. Kentucky’s in pretty bad shape. Let’s leave it at that.

Iowa State: The Cyclones are probably if a pretty good spot in terms of the bubble right now. Heading into the day, Dave Ommen had them as a No. 11 seed, but the Cyclones weren’t one of the last five teams into the tournament. They had some room to spare, and since the rest of the bubble teams lost today, losing to a potential No. 1 seed in Kansas probably won’t hurt ISU’s chances all that badly. Selection Sunday will still be a bit stressful, but ISU should feel pretty good about their chances.

Virginia: It is going to be a long, long weekend for Virginia. The Cavs lost to NC State on Friday afternoon in the ACC quarterfinals, and it wasn’t close: the Wolfpack jumped out to an early lead and cruised to a 75-56 win. As of this morning, our Dave Ommen had Virginia as the first team out, and that’s before the rest of the teams on the bubble with them have a chance to improve their resumes. It’s not a lock, especially if the committee decides to over look Virginia’s bad losses. But it doesn’t look good.

La Salle: The Explorers had a chance to really improve their bubble chances on Friday afternoon, as they took on Butler in the Atlantic 10 quarters. La Salle ended up losing, which means that they, too, are going to have a stressful Saturday night. La Salle hasn’t really done anything to improve their profile since beating Butler and VCU in the same week, which is part of the reason why Dave Ommen had them as one of the last five teams in as of today. The loss to Butler hurts them in the sense that they missed a chance to improve their chances and now must hope that they had already done enough.

Temple: The Owls weren’t all that close to the bubble heading into the day, and their chances probably won’t change all that much with a loss to a potential tournament team in UMass, especially when you consider how many teams trying to catch them lost on Friday. That said, Temple isn’t a lock. There will be some relief for the Owls when their name is called by Greg Gumbel.

Tennessee: The Vols are going to have to play the waiting game. They are still in a better position than some of the other SEC teams, but they may not be on the right side of the bubble right now. Dave Ommen didn’t have the Vols listed as one of the last five in, which means they may have enough breathing room to handle this loss and still get in. With four top 50 wins and nine top 100 wins, Tennessee has a decent profile. But it is going to be a long wait until Sunday.

Iowa: The Hawkeyes had to beat Michigan State to have a chance. They blew a 12 point lead in the final 10 minutes. That’s one way to play your way off the bubble.

Charlotte: It was a longshot for the 49ers. They were one of the next five out in Dave Ommen’s bracket this morning, which means that they likely needed to beat St. Louis and Butler en route to the A-10 title game if they even wanted a chance at dancing. They lost to the Billikens in the quarters on Friday afternoon.


  • Ole Miss vs. Missouri (10:00 p.m. ET, ESPN3)
  • Oregon vs. Utah (11:30 p.m. ET, Pac-12)

You can find Rob on twitter @RobDauster.