March Madness 2024 Bubble Watch: First Four Out, Last Four In, more on Feb. 27
March Madness Bubble Watch: Next Four Out
Team | Conference | Record | NET | Quad 1 Record | Quad 2 Record | Quad 3/4 Record | Last Game | Next Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
James Madison | Sun Belt | 26-3 (13-3) | 50 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 23-1 | W 80-74 At Georgia Southern | At Georgia State 2/28 |
Drake | Missouri Valley | 23-6 (14-4) | 46 | 2-1 | 3-3 | 17-2 | L 91-77 At Northern Iowa | At UIC 2/28 |
Ole Miss | SEC | 19-8 (6-8) | 74 | 4-6 | 0-2 | 15-0 | L 72-59 Vs. No. 20 South Carolina | Vs. No. 14 Alabama 2/28 |
Utah | Pac-12 | 16-11 (7-9) | 53 | 3-7 | 5-3 | 8-1 | L 89-65 At Colorado | Vs. Stanford 2/29 |
The wins keep on coming for James Madison, which took two on the road last week to get to 26-3 on the season. Two more road dates await the Dukes this week, which they will need to get to avoid Quad 3 or 4 losses on a resume that desperately needs Michigan State to remain in Quad 1 to protect that Opening Night victory at the Breslin Center.
We welcome Drake to the Bubble Watch thanks to an impressive 5-4 mark against the top two quadrants, which isn't easy for a mid-major to accomplish with their lack of opportunities, but Sunday's loss at Northern Iowa was a setback. A non-conference win over Nevada and a split with Indiana State helps but the Bulldogs realistically can't lose before a potential rematch with the Sycamores in Arch Madness if they want to climb up the bubble.
Ole Miss has dropped five of six to tumble further out of the field as they haven't taken advantage of their opportunities to stack up Quad 1 wins against the cream of the crop in the SEC. A pillow-soft non-conference slate is killing the Rebels, who are a whopping 15-0 against the bottom two quadrants, meaning they have to beat both Alabama and Texas A&M to have a legitimate bubble case ahead of the SEC Tournament.
A blowout loss at Colorado was bad for Utah, which has nice metrics but is somehow 7-9 against a very down Pac-12 that could send just two teams to the NCAA Tournament. Running the table over their final four games would give the Utes 20 wins before the conference tournament but this feels unrealistic given their inconsistent play all season long.