Bubble Status

Unofficially I have 23 locks of the 34 automatic bids. That leaves 11 spots to be "won" by 27 teams. The 11 spots may be less if teams that are locks don't win their conference tournaments. Let's take a look at a couple of these:

Horizon - Butler
Butler should hang out and continue their dominance over the Horizon. That's good news for the bubble.

Northern Iowa - Missouri Valley
N.Iowa is good but the Valley always has a tough conference. I expect the Panthers to lose and Wichita State or Illinois State to come out with the auto-bid. There goes 1 bubble spot

Gonzaga - West Coast
It'll be the Zags over St. Mary's in the final. With St. Mary's third loss to Gonzaga perhaps they fall out of the bracket opening another spot. Could happen

UTEP - Conference USA
The Miners are on a 13 game win streak. I'd almost put them in lock status unless they slip this weekend and lose their first round game. I don't see that happening but I think they lose in the C-USA finals to Tulsa. Both teams get in and the bubble shrinks again

Old Dominion - Colonial
My favorite conference; there is no way the Monarchs sweep through and win the conference. I'll say Northeastern beats VCU in the final and the Colonial becomes a 2 bid league

So, there you have it, suddenly the bubble is projected at 8 bids. Let the games continue.

Wednesday Bracketology

1 seed vs 16 seed
Kansas - B12 vs Jackson St - SWAC/LeHigh - Patriot
Kentucky - SEC vs Robert Morris - NEC
Syracuse - Beast vs Stony Brook - AEast
Duke - ACC vs Lipscomb - Asun
2 seed vs 15 seed
Kansas State vs Coastal Carolina - BigSouth
West Virginia vs Troy - Sbelt
New Mexico - Mwest vs Morgan State - MEAC
Purdue vs UC-Santa Barbara - Big West
3 seed vs 14 seed
Vanderbilt vs Wofford - SoCon
Villanova vs Weber State - Big Sky
Ohio State - Big10 vs Sam Houston St - Southland
Pittsburgh vs Murray State - OVC
4 seed vs 13 seed
Butler - Horizon vs Oakland - Summit
Tennessee vs Kent State - MAC
Temple - A10 vs Rhode Island
BYU vs Dayton
5 seed vs 12 seed
Georgetown vs Notre Dame
Michigan State vs Louisville
Wisconsin vs Mississippi State
Gonzaga - WCC vs San Diego State
6 seed vs 11 seed
Xavier vs Connecticut
Baylor vs Cornell - Ivy
Northern Iowa - MVC vs St. Mary's
Maryland vs Siena - MAAC
7 seed vs 10 seed
Texas vs Marquette
Richmond vs UAB
Wake Forest vs Utah State - WAC
Texas A&M vs California - Pac10
8 seed vs 9 seed
Clemson vs UNLV
UTEP - CUSA vs Florida State
Missouri vs Georgia Tech
Oklahoma State vs Old Dominion - CAA

Last Four Out
Florida
Virginia Tech
Illinois
Mississippi
Next Four Out
Charlotte
Seton Hall
Arizona State
Washington
Also Considered
Northeastern
Memphis
South Florida
William & Mary
New Mexico State
Wichita State
Minnesota
St. Louis

Last Night's Games

Some interesting stuff, mostly bad unless you are Marquette

Out
Florida - experts won't agree with me but 2 losses in a row and 4 of 7 is not what you want. Must face Kentucky on Sunday which could mean 3 in a row

In
Rhode Island - didn't play but will move in just because of their 36 RPI for now

Bubble Popped
Marshall - lost at home to UTEP
Cincinnati - 7-10 in the Big East and losers of 5 of 6

Congrats to Marquette who have probably entered Lock status with the blow out win over Louisville.

And tonight's games say...

Cincinnati can start the N-I-T party!

Billy Donovan should have took that Magic job!

Marshall..uh..your new football coach is stealing recruits from West Virginia, that's pretty nifty!

Minnesota, well, your fans are a bunch of front running Grain Belt drinkers so you get what you deserve!

And Georgia Tech is treading to 12 seed land!

20 Years

Here's a worthwhile read for any college basketball fan.

Johnny Boy's Bourbon

Johnny Boy's bourbon will not be available in Wisconsin, though I could likely get my hand on a case. Depending on the pack-out, it'd cost anywhere between $200-400ish. As hard as it may be to believe, there isn't much of a market for a John Calipari special edition bourbon in Wisconsin and probably 48 other states for that matter.

Maker's Mark did have a special Green and Gold and Red and White wax bottling for the state in 2007 prior to the football season. They also make a Mint Julep edition for the Derby that doesn't make it this far north but is quite delicious or so I've been told.

I could get you a case of Charles Woodson's wine for $660, though. And considering he's the best Packer of the last 20 years, you know you want it. Hail.

Tonight's Games

Some solid games tonight; let's highlight the biggest ones

Villanova-Cincinnati
The Bearcats need this to keep their slim at-large hops alive. I loss puts them on death watch

Vanderbilt-Florida
Both in now but a home loss makes it two in a row for the Gators. An RPI today at 46 but's them in the last 4 in or out

UTEP-Marshall
UTEP's got 12 wins in a row. I'm still keeping an eye on Marshall although I might be the only one.

Minnesota-Michigan
Gophers are still alive barely

Georgia Tech-Clemsom
They both might be locks right now but the loser is going to be looking at a double digit seed

Illinois-Ohio State
I don't have Illinois in but Lunardi does. He'll see it my way by the end of the week

Louisville-Marquette
Loser is in trouble but still in. Winner is probably a lock