It looks like at least one good team is going to be left out of the NCAA Tournament. Since Houston upset UTEP in the C-USA final and New Mexico St. beat Utah St. in the WAC final, there are two at-large bids that are no longer available to the teams on the bubble, so fans of Virginia Tech, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Florida, Illinois, Ole Miss and Seton Hall will be pulling out their hair on Sunday hoping that their team gets a bid.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that the final two slots are down to three teams — Virginia Tech, Minnesota and Mississippi State. I’m not a bracketologist or anything, but watching Lunardi’s page and knowing that Minnesota and Mississippi State are the only two teams still alive on his bubble, and it seems pretty clear that the Gophers’ and Bulldogs’ conference tourney runs have certainly worked in their favor.
Minnesota blew out a very good Purdue team yesterday and Mississippi State nipped a solid Vanderbilt squad. Minnesota’s numbers are better and if both teams lose today, it looks like the Gophers will get the nod. But if the Bulldogs can upset Kentucky, even if Minnesota beats Ohio State, Mississippi State will make the tournament via automatic bid. In fact, if both teams win, Virginia Tech’s poor performance in the ACC tournament will probably come back to haunt them.
Since Utah St. and UTEP are very likely to get bids, it looks like the window is just about closed for Florida, Illinois, Ole Miss and Seton Hall, who can’t help their case today.
But every year, the committee comes out of left field with a pick that nobody was expecting. Fans are focused on late-season performance while the committee says it looks at the “whole body of work,” which can result in a team getting something of a surprise bid.
So there is hope…just don’t get your hopes up.
