ESPN Bubble Watch

[Drew's Crew]

Excerpt from the ESPN Bubble Watch regarding the A10.......


Teams that should be in: Rhode Island
Work left to do: Dayton, Massachusetts, Saint Joseph's, Temple

Is the A-10 losing steam? Xavier is a lock and Rhode Island and Saint Joe's are in solid position, it seems. After that? Maybe Dayton, with a decent profile that's hanging in there despite the personnel issues and a spate of losses.
Should be in:

Rhode Island [20-5 (6-4), RPI: 24, SOS: 126] URI blew a big lead at Temple and lost in overtime after edging past Fordham on the road midweek. Now comes a huge three-game homestand, during which the Rams can really solidify their standing with games against Xavier, UMass and Saint Joe's. Nonconference wins over Syracuse and Providence will help. The RPI remains pretty strong, although the overall SOS still is mediocre.

Work left to do:
Dayton [17-7 (5-6), RPI: 22, SOS: 15] The Flyers came through in an absolute must-win against Temple on Saturday. They have three very winnable road games left along with home dates with Xavier and Saint Joe's, so the pieces are in place to salvage their NCAA Tournament hopes. The Flyers should get a lot of consideration for Chris Wright's absence, assuming they start winning big again when he returns. Dayton had two outstanding nonconference wins -- at
Louisville and versus Pitt -- and several other solid nonleague wins.

Massachusetts [15-9 (4-6), RPI: 38, SOS: 21] Losing at Temple in overtime was tough, but losing at home to league straggler Fordham might be the game that crushes the Minutemen's at-large hopes. The RPI, which had been the strength of their profile, took a huge hit and now is very dicey for a non-power conference team, as good as the A-10 is. UMass already has been swept by Saint Joseph's and lost to Xavier, but the Minutemen also beat Dayton and Charlotte. Like Rhode Island, they beat Syracuse. Unlike the Rams, the Minutemen also beat BC and Houston in nonconference play.

Saint Joseph's [16-7 (7-3), RPI: 42, SOS: 95] The loss at Duquesne without Ahmad Nivins wasn't a shock. Allowing Xavier's last eight points Sunday to lose by four on the road, though, was a big missed chance. Still, five of its last seven are on Hawk Hill, so Saint Joe's remains in pretty decent shape. With road games left at Rhode Island and Dayton, though, it might need one of those to make sure. The season sweep of UMass could be a huge chip come Selection Sunday. Saint Joe's also has one of the toughest collections of nonleague Ls in the land. Two were in overtime (Gonzaga and at Creighton), and two were last-possession defeats (at Syracuse and against Holy Cross).

Temple [13-11 (6-4), RPI: 60, SOS: 13] The Owls missed a huge chance at Dayton on Saturday to really put themselves in position to make an at-large push. Now they probably have to come close to running the table to have a real chance. The nonconference schedule is littered with seven losses, which could be too many to make up for barring a huge push down the stretch and a strong A-10 tournament. That said, the SOS is carrying the RPI, so they're still worth a look.

[joebba]

Bubble Watch

[Lasser83]

I hope the selection committee takes into consideration the number of teams of each conference in the tourney.

I would hate to see 3 bubble teams make it from the Big East and none from the A 10.

[Drew's Crew]

Yeah being in the A10 scares me a little bit when we have all these teams on the bubble.

I don't know, maybe it is just me but I still think the Committee has some Big Least Bias.

[BlueGuy]

I hope the selection committee takes into consideration the number of teams of each conference in the tourney.

I would hate to see 3 bubble teams make it from the Big East and none from the A 10.

I don't think they pay too much attention to conf affiliation. I hope they make their decisions bases solely on merit.