Here’s a look at a few teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble as Week 10 of the 2016-17 college basketball season wraps up.
With less than two months remaining until Selection Sunday, the bubble for the 2017 NCAA Tournament is starting to take shape.
The early action in Week 10 was headlined with a number of marquee games in the Big 12, including No. 10 West Virginia taking down previously undefeated No. 1 Baylor. The middle tier of the conference carried even more significant results, as bubble teams like Texas Tech, Kansas State and Oklahoma State had crucial games for their NCAA Tournament hopes.
Elsewhere, No. 9 Florida State appears headed for a top two seed after crushing No. 7 Duke on Tuesday night. No. 3 Villanova and No. 8 Creighton also separated themselves in the Big East race with wins over No. 15 Xavier and No. 12 Butler, respectively.
This weekend will feature both marquee games between highly ranked teams and critical bubble matchups. Keep an eye on these five teams that are squarely on the bubble as Week 10 concludes.
VCU Rams
While VCU could certainly win either the Atlantic 10 regular season crown or conference tournament, it has some work to do in order to feel comfortable about getting an at-large bid come Selection Sunday.
The Rams missed out on a few chances to grab a marquee non-conference win with losses to Baylor and Illinois, and also suffered a bad overtime loss to Georgia Tech in early December. A road win over Old Dominion and neutral court victory against Saint John’s help somewhat, but nothing really stands out on VCU’s resume yet.
Following the loss to Georgia Tech, the Rams have reeled off eight straight wins, including victories in their first four games of Atlantic 10 play, helping them get just on the right side of the bubble for now. That has resulted in an RPI mark of 28 which is good enough to make the tournament, although a loss to a bottom tier A10 team could make that crash quickly.
VCU took care of business against George Washington on Wednesday, and has an opportunity to grab a decent road win at Davidson over the weekend. Getting at least a split with Dayton later in the season could be the key for VCU’s tournament hopes should they drop a few Atlantic 10 games.