Seasonal bubble alert #1
Boston College, Maryland, Virginia Tech, and Miami are without a doubt on the NCAA bubble. No fan, player, or coach of any of these schools can say with any certainty that they’re in. You’ve got work to do and fingers to cross, for sure. To that end, here are three games to keep an eye on this weekend as the conference tourney season kicks into gear and bubble-bursting opportunities abound.
Tonight
MVC Tourney: #2 Creighton vs. #7 Wichita St, 7:05 pm
The Blue Jays of Creighton are perhaps the best mid-major in all of mid-majordom, behind only Butler. Their tourney resume is without a true signature win (New Mexico in mid-November is a stretch for me). And wouldn’t you know it, they’ve already lost once to the Shockers (by 13!)
Saturday
Southern Conference Tourney: #1 Davidson vs. #4 Appalachian St./#5 Georgia Southern, 2 pm
This season’s Davidson lacks that je ne sais quoi that launched them into the little guy stratosphere in 2008. Perhaps it’s the new toy luster wearing off of Stephen Curry (he’s still the best guard in the country); or maybe it’s that they didn’t match the 19 game winning streak streak they rode into last season’s SoCon tourney. Yeah, this year they have losses to College of Charleston and The Citadel, but they also came pretty darn close to taking down the likes of Oklahoma and Duke. A neutral-court win over West Virginia is always a nice thing to have in your pocket, but they really missed an opportunity to shore up an at-large bid when they got thumped at home by Butler two weeks ago.
Sunday
WCC Tourney: #1 Gonzaga vs. #4 Santa Clara/#5 San Diego/#8 Loyola Marymount
No mid-major in recent history has been as polarizing come tourney time as Gonzaga. It’s another year, another undefeated WCC campaign, and another surefire at-large bid in waiting. If Mark Few were to drop the ball this weekend, you’ll here major conference bubbles bursting from coast to coast.
