NCAA TOURNAMENT BUBBLE TEAMS

This is my list of teams that are currently on the NCAA Tournament bubble and what they need to do in order to get an at-large berth on Selection Sunday.

(RPI and SOS courtesy of kenpom.com)

DAYTON (Atlantic-10)...... 16-6 overall (4-5 conference). RPI 17. SOS 25. Must get to above .500 in conference and win at least 1 game in conference tourney. I can't imagine a team from the Atlantic-10 will ever get an at-large berth with a .500 or worse conference record despite their RPI and SOS.

MIAMI (ACC)...... 16-7 overall (3-6 conference). RPI 40. SOS 37. Need to get to .500 in the ACC and then I think they'll be a lock simply because there's really only 4 locks from the ACC and I find it hard to believe the selection committee doesn't want at least 5 ACC teams to get in the Big Dance. If they finish 7-9 in the ACC and win a couple of games in the conference tournament, they're in.

WEST VIRGINIA (Big East)...... 16-7 overall (5-5 conference). RPI 42. SOS 38. .500 in the league and they're in even though the Big East already has 6-7 locks. The conference is loaded this year and the committee will reward them for that.

SYRACUSE (Big East)...... 16-8 overall (6-5 conference). RPI 46. SOS 12. .500 in the league gets them in. Tough SOS will impress the committee.

UAB (Conference USA)...... 16-7 overall (6-2 conference). RPI 74. SOS 144. No real impressive wins make them a long-shot, but if they can pull off an upset of Memphis they will be right on the bubble. If not, they're going to need to finish the conference season at 13-3 and get at least a win in the CUSA tourney, otherwise they're headed to the NIT.

ILLINOIS STATE (MVC)...... 17-7 overall (9-4 conference). RPI 49. SOS 75. Basically going to have to win their remaining 5 conference games and bracket buster game to have a chance. Even with that, they still might need 1-2 MVC Tourney wins to get an at-large berth.

ARIZONA STATE (Pac-10)...... 15-7 overall (5-5 conference). RPI 72. SOS 100. Need at least 11 conference wins and 1 Pac-10 tourney win to get in. Pac-10 is strong but ASU lacks a lot of quality wins and a low SOS and RPI will hurt them.

MISSISSIPPI (SEC)...... 17-5 overall (3-5 conference). RPI 31. SOS 66. Just need to finish .500 in the league. If they finish 7-9, they can get into the tournament with a pair of SEC tourney victories.