On Friday of Championship Week — if you’ve ever said the words “Champ Week” aloud, you should be ashamed of yourself — anyone within earshot of the bubble rooted full throat against Indiana, VCU, North Texas and NBK #9 SMU. Joe Lunardi summed up the state of affairs in the wee hours of Saturday morning thusly (my bolding of NBK teams):
Looks like we’ll need another day to unravel and properly sequence the bubble teams. We need to sleep on teams like Wyoming, Michigan, Xavier and hard-luck Oklahoma. Others such as SMU, Dayton and Texas A&M still control their own destinies on Saturday and perhaps even into Sunday. Likely off the board at this point are Wake Forest, VCU, North Texas and Colorado. Our final weekend storyline will be Kentucky, which now has an open path to a No. 1 seed by winning the SEC tournament.
Joe Lunardi, ESPN Bracketologist
Let’s recap the results that matter to the Never Been Kissed (NBK): FRIDAY
Boise St won 68-61 over Wyoming in the Mountain West semifinal, and bumped up to a 6-seed in Joey Brackets’ latest projections. While the Blue Turfers are playing for seed lines and a cool hat on Saturday, the Cowboys will have a fitful wait to see how the rest of the bubble shakes out. Wyoming fans: root hard against Virginia Tech, Dayton, Texas A&M, SMU, and SLU.
In the other MWC semi, Colorado St fell to San Diego St 63-58. The Rams were the better seed but the Aztecs were favored per KenPom. So it’s not an upset and the loss does not hurt CSU – they seem to have nestled comfortably in the 7-seed range.
TCU lost 75-62 to kansas in the Big XII semifinal in Kansas City, MO. Unlike in their recent game in Lawrence, where they made a second half surge to make things interesting for a bit, in this one the Horned Frogs were dominated throughout. It’s a testament to the strength of the Big XII this year that TCU loses three of their last four yet goes comfortably into the NCAAs with momentum and buzz.
North Texas were tripped up by lowly Louisiana Tech 42-36 in a game that even the Pat Riley Knicks found to be an affront to the game of basketball. Over 58 excrutiating possessions, the Mean Green and Bulldogs slung feces at one another before realizing time had mercifully expired and everyone was released to the rest of their day. North Texas coach Grant McCasland is showing up on some early lists of potential replacements for Cuonzo Martin — fired on Friday from Mizzou after five years — and as a long-time Mizzou fan let me be the first to say No Thanks. And as shown above, Lunardi is writing them off too. Devastating loss.
In happier local news, Saint Louis was finally able to get over on St Bonaventure, eeking out a 57-56 win on Friday thanks to SBU’s Kyle Lofton missing two free throws AND a putback in the final two seconds. SLU’s burgeoning 2022 at-large case was demolished in mid-February by consecutive losses to the Bonnies. SBU also knocked SLU out of the A-10 tournament last year, so this victory is particularly satisfying for the Billikens. The win also moves SLU back into Lunardi’s bubble picture — see below — with a date with Davidson next.. Davidson appears to be comfortably IN, and with them having knocked out VCU on Friday a SLU-Dayton final would likely be for only the auto-bid. Despite SLU losing by 21 at Davidson in February, we are only a slight underdog in this one. Let’s Go Bills!
SMU won emphatically 83-58 over Tulsa, and slides slightly over the crest to the better side of the bubble. Today’s semifinal against Memphis seems make-or-break for their at-large hopes. The Mustangs beat the Tigers handily on their home floor a few weeks back, but Memphis is undefeated since and looks to be a legitimate challenger to top AAC dog Houston. This would be a decisive win for SMU.
Rutgers lost to the Iowa light show 84-74. No shame there as Iowa is on fire, and Scarlet Knights coach Steve Pikell signed a lucrative extension. They look to be just above the First Four as an 11-seed.
Big upset in the MAC, as Toledo fell to Akron 70-62 in the semifinal. Look for Toledo back in the NBK this time next year.
UC Santa Barbara ended their one-week stint in the NBK standings by losing to Long Beach St 67-64. UC Irvine and the Gauchos are sure to battle for this space again next year in the Big West.
Finally Montana St kept their dream alive with a win over Weber St 69-66 in the Big Sky semifinal. They will take on Northern Colorado in the final.
SATURDAY
#3 Boise St (45%) vs San Diego St – 5 PM CST
#8 SMU (43%) vs Memphis – 4 PM CST
#9 Saint Louis (46%) vs Davidson – 12 Noon CST
#10 Vermont (91%) vs UMBC – 10 AM CST
#19 Princeton (71%) vs Cornell – 10 AM CST
#23 Montana St (64%) vs Northern Colorado – 7 PM CST
Data courtesy Kenpom.com and ESPN Bracketology and ESPN Bubble Watch and NCAA.com