March Madness 2024 Bubble Watch: Last Four In, First Four Out, more on Feb. 20
Bubble Watch: Next Four Out
Team | Conference | Record | NET | Last Game | Next Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
James Madison | Sun Belt | 24-3 (11-3) | 56 | W 87-80 Vs. Georgia Southern | At Marshall 2/21 |
Cincinnati | Big 12 | 16-9 (5-7) | 37 | W 76-74 At UCF | Vs. Oklahoma State 2/21 |
Colorado | Pac-12 | 17-9 (8-7) | 41 | W 92-89 At USC | Vs. Utah 2/24 |
Princeton | Ivy League | 19-3 (7-2) | 54 | W 73-62 Vs. Yale | At Harvard 2/23 |
The Dukes are seeing their NET improve as they keep stacking wins and desperately need Michigan State to ascend as their win at the Breslin Center on opening night is James Madison's only Quad 1 win. The Sun Belt is loaded with land mines and the Dukes will play their last four regular season games on the road, putting a ton of pressure on James Madison to sweep them to avoid needing the auto-bid in the conference tournament.
The committee's emphasis on Quad 1 wins will be a boost for Cincinnati, which gets those opportunities regularly in the Big 12, but they need to start converting some of those games into wins. Saturday's road win at UCF was solid, especially since the Knights upset Kansas at home earlier this season, but finding a way to get to .500 in league play this week is manageable (Oklahoma State, at TCU) and could push them back into the First Four Out section next week.
Colorado pulled the reverse Utah last week, losing at UCLA and winning at USC, which won't do much to help their 1-6 record in Quad 1 games. While it's true the Buffaloes are unlucky that a neutral site win against a ranked Miami team didn't age well, having a resume with its best win being at home against Washington State isn't good, making Saturday's home date with Utah a must-win for both sides.
Let's welcome Princeton to the proceedings for the first time as the Tigers have a solid NET of 54 with a solid 3-3 mark in Quad 2, which is good work for a mid-major who doesn't get many shots at top teams. The Tigers are third in the Ivy League right now after losses to Yale and Cornell on the road, with the former being avenged last week, although a rare road back-to-back in college basketball comes this weekend with a trip to Harvard on Friday followed by Dartmouth Saturday.