It was big road wins all around for the bubble teams on Sunday.
Northwestern got things started with a 76-72 road win at Indiana. That used to really mean something, but the Hoosiers have had a miserable season by their standards. The Wildcats are still looking for a tournament quality win away from home, but they avoided another road loss and that's not nothing.
Seton Hall followed that up with a 68-62 win at St. John's. That is the Pirates' fifth quad one win of the season, but only three of those are against likely tournament teams. They have an important part of their schedule ahead with Butler at home followed by trips to Creighton and UConn.
Finally, Utah got a buzzer-beating put-back to get a much needed 70-69 win at UCLA. The Utes travel to Colorado on Saturday in a matchup of teams currently in my last four in the field.
Monday features a couple of games for bubble teams against teams out of the bracket for now. Those are always dangerous.
Check out all the teams on Palm's Bubble Watch, the field of the 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub
Bubble teams in action Monday
| at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Virginia has a tough assignment at Virginia Tech. The Hokies have had some moments this season, especially at home with wins over Iowa State and Clemson. Despite Virginia Tech's 14-11 record, this is currently classified as a Quad 1 game for Virginia, so the Cavaliers shouldn't suffer too badly with a loss. | |
| vs. Kansas State, 9 p.m. | ESPN, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Kansas State is another team like Virginia Tech in that it has had some moments, but are currently not quite good enough for at-large consideration. The Longhorns have a tough schedule coming up right after this, so this is an important game to win. Oddly, Texas is only 2-4 at home in Big 12 play. | |
NCAA Tournament locks
Locks based on resume: 11 | Bids secured: 0 | At-large spots remaining: 21
| Conference | Locks | Teams |
|---|---|---|
ACC | 2 | Duke, North Carolina |
Big East | 2 | UConn, Marquette |
Big Ten | 1 | |
Big 12 | 4 | Houston, Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas |
Pac-12 | 1 | Arizona |
SEC | 1 | Tennessee |
American | 0 | |
Others | 0 |
Near the cut line
| First 4 Out | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati | 16-9 | 37 | |
| Gonzaga | 20-6 | 23 | |
| Oregon | 17-8 | 61 | |
| Seton Hall | 17-9 | 63 |
| Next 4 Out | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wake Forest | 16-9 | 40 | |
| Pitt | 17-8 | 47 | |
| Providence | 17-9 | 59 | |
| Drake | 21-5 | 46 |
Note – all references to NCAA Tournament selection records and trends based on NET rankings excludes the 2021 tournament. Due to shortened schedules and a relatively small number of non-conference games, those rankings are not reliable enough to be considered.