With Selection Sunday just over a month away, what teams are right on the cut line for the NCAA Tournament?
While Rivalry Week will feature some of the most prominent matchups of the year in college basketball, a few critical games for bubble teams are also on the schedule.
With the Big 10 and the SEC down plus a top-heavy Pac-12, the focus of the bubble is largely centered around the Big 12 and ACC. The past few days have been particularly important for the Big 12, as teams like Oklahoma State and Iowa State picked up huge upset wins on the road last Saturday.
Such victories have moved those respective teams into the projected NCAA Tournament field, pushing some others towards the cut line. As the bubble is pretty weak this year, there are a number of surprise tournament contenders as Week 14 closes out, including a few teams that will likely finish under .500 in conference play.
These five teams have more work to do heading into a loaded slate to finish out Rivalry Week.
Arkansas Razorbacks
After suffering two awful losses in a span of four days, the Razorbacks now have zero margin for error after ranking solidly in 8-9 seed range for much of the season.
Arkansas inexplicably went down at woeful Missouri last weekend, which could be a backbreaker come Selection Sunday. The loss appeared to carry a hangover, as the Razorbacks fell behind Vanderbilt by 22 points in the first at home on Tuesday before eventually losing 72-59.
With a home loss to Mississippi State also on the resume, Arkansas has a lot of work to do at 17-7 and 6-5 in SEC play. Wins over surging Tennessee, Alabama and Houston at least count for something, and the two bad losses didn’t crater the No. 46 Razorbacks’ RPI too much.
One bad week isn’t enough to eliminate Arkansas from bubble discussion, but it probably needs a road win over South Carolina or Florida in the final month. Arkansas has the offense to challenge either team, with senior Dusty Hannahs leading the way at 14.6 points per contest.
Mike Richardson will need to get the ship righted before Saturday’s road trip to struggling LSU.