Ladies and gentlemen, we are just one day away from Selection Sunday in college basketball. And before we get there, several conference tournament champions still need to be crowned.
The ACC, Big 12, Big East, and Pac-12 are among the many leagues who will hold their respective tournament finals today and when the dust settles, the NCAA Tournament picture will get a little bit clearer. Of course, there’s still several bubble teams out there whose NCAA Tournament status hangs in the balance. Buckle in and let’s watch how everything plays out throughout the day.
Yesterday’s bubble watch
- Texas A&M 67, Auburn 62: The Aggies entered Friday afternoon on the outside looking in but added a huge datapoint to their resume when knocking off the top-seeded Tigers in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal. They’ll have another crack at keeping their tourney hopes alive when facing Arkansas in the SEC semifinals this after.
- Indiana 65, Illinois 63: Hoosiers, you’re in the big dance...we think. Indiana knocked off top-seeded Illinois in the Big Ten quarterfinal on Friday, possibly securing its spot in the big dance come Selection Sunday tomorrow. The team can leave no doubt about its status today when facing Iowa in the semifinals.
- Virginia Tech 72, North Carolina 59: The seventh-seeded Hokies are ACC title game bound, throttling the Tar Heels on Friday night. Va. Tech was sitting on the outside of the NCAA Tournament field looking in heading into the week, but may have its name called regardless of what it does against Duke.
- Texas Tech, Oklahoma 55: The Sooners came up just short against the Red Raiders and their bubble may have bursted with Friday’s loss.
- Coppin State 79, North Carolina Central 73: We have an interesting development in the MEAC as Coppin State took down NC Central to advance to today’s championship game against Norfolk State. The Eagles won only seven games entering the MEAC Tournament and would be the biggest surprise auto-bid should they be able to pull off one more upset.
Game to watch today
- Kentucky vs. Tennessee: The most intriguing game of the day will be this SEC Tournament semifinal battle between two bitter border rivals. The Wildcats have a potential No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament in their crosshairs while the Volunteers have won 10 of their last 11 ballgames.
Bubble teams per ESPN’s Joe Lunardi
Last four in - Wyoming, Indiana, Xavier, Wake Forest
First four out - SMU, Dayton Virginia Tech, Oklahoma
Next four out - Texas A&M, BYU, VCU, St. Bonaventure
Conference breakdown per ESPN’s Joe Lunardi
Big Ten: 9
Big East: 7
Big 12: 6
SEC: 6
ACC: 5
Mountain West: 4
WCC: 3
Pac-12: 3
American: 2