Teams In Danger of Playing Their Way out of March Madness

The final weeks of the regular season are upon us as Selection Sunday draws near. Every team is competing for a spot in the NCAA Tournament with bids up for grabs and changing hands seemingly every hour.

It's always optimal to play your best come March, but a few teams are trending in the wrong direction as the season winds down. Here are three teams in danger of playing themselves out of the NCAA Tournament.

Odds mentioned are courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook

Indiana (+10000)

The warning signs are clear for Indiana, who have struggled to close out several key games this season. The most recent time came earlier this week at Ohio State, which would be a signature victory in what has been an up-and-down season for the Hoosiers. IU squandered a four point lead in the final minute, only to lose by 11 in overtime.

While the team has a strong defense, the offense struggles often, especially late in games. Since February 1st, the Hoosiers are 214th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 24th on defense, per barttorvik.com

Mike Woodson's team is a 12 seed, per Bracket Matrix, heading into this weekend's games, but must avoid some land mines to the end of the season.

The team goes to Minnesota before home for Rutgers and a road game against Purdue. If the team is bounced early from the Big Ten tournament, there is a chance they get knocked out by some bid stealing teams in Conference Tournament week.

Indiana must find some offensive consistency down the stretch before it's too late.

North Carolina (+15000)

Another team on the 12 line with a first year head coach, Hubert Davis' Tar Heels need to do a little bit more before they lock up a an at-large berth.

The Heels have built a 20-8 record by beating up on inferior opponents and losing to the elite ones. UNC has three games left in the regular season, at North Carolina State, home for Syracuse and at rival Duke.

While the Heels have gone about their business building a strong record, they can use a nice run in the ACC Tournament to keep themselves out of the danger zone of having their at-large bid stolen.

The Tar Heels have a ton of size with big man Armando Bacot but don't turn their opponent over at all, if the wrong matchup comes up in the ACC Tournament (Miami and Louisville for example), they can be an early exit.

BYU (+20000)

The damage may be done for BYU already after a poor month-plus that saw them go 3-5 including a loss on the road to Pacific. The team's reagular season is all but over with a game at home against Pepperdine on Saturday as the team sits in a little less than half of the compiled projected brackets at Bracket Matrix.

The Cougars are going to need to make a run likely to the WCC Championship in order for a chance an at-large berth with some wins over the likes of St. Mary's and San Francisco along the way.

Alex Barcello has the opportunity to make a run and lead to the Cougars to the Tournament, but it may be too tall of an ask given the team's poor play of late.

All of Reed's college basketball plays can be tracked here, his best bets column for college basketball is 69-66-3 for -0.55 units.