March Madness is just around the corner.
With only one week left to play in the regular season before conference tournament play begins, the NCAA Tournament field is still far from being set. It has been a competitive season and there will be some good teams who will not make the cut.
There are a few teams, however, who are on the bubble right now of making the tournament and need to finish their season strong in order to make a compelling case for the committee.
1. Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State's biggest blemish on their resume is a lopsided loss to South Carolina early in the season. Otherwise, they have been competitive in nearly every game this year despite playing a schedule riddled with nationally ranked opponents. If they can pull off a win against UCF, then it could provide them with some momentum heading into their season finale against No. 14 Kansas State. Two straight wins would mean they've won six of their last seven games, and the committee would have to consider the way they're playing at this juncture in the season.
2. Arizona Wildcats
Arizona has struggled in the back half of Big 12 play, but they have a chance to right the ship this week. They'll play two of the conference's worst teams in Texas Tech and Arizona State to finish the season, so two convincing wins would give them four straight victories heading into the conference tournament. The Wildcats had a strong showing in the out-of-league portion of the schedule and could finish with double-digit wins in the Big 12 if they bring their "A" game this week. Hopefully, that is enough, but the conference is having a down year.
3. Washington Huskies
Washington is a team that can compete with anyone in the country but does not necessarily have the resume to match that notion. They have played six nationally ranked opponents this season and are yet to lose by more than 12 points, but they also have a loss to Montana on their record. If they can win both of their games this week against Minnesota and Oregon (both of whom have a winning record in the Big 10) then the Huskies will finish .500 in the conference and head into the tournament on a four-game winning streak. If not, they'll likely slide out of tournament contention.