The biggest upset as it relates to the Never Been Kissed (NBK) on Saturday was North Texas falling to UAB in the American Athletic Conference semifinal. This result and UNT plummeting in the NBK standings left us feeling a little verklempt…talk amongst yourselves……..we’ll give you a topic…the Mean Green on Saturday were neither Mean, nor Green…discuss. For now we are keeping North Texas in our rankings but it’s not looking good.
Saturday’s best result went to UC San Diego, continuing their epic run, booking the auto-bid and punching their first ticket to March Madness in the first year they are eligible. Masters of thievery, the Tritons actually lost the turnover battle to UC Irvine but shot well from three and made enough free throws to survive and advance. UCSD is an interesting collection of foreign nationals and transfers, and we expect them to have the best chance of advancing to the second round among those NBK-eligible. They top the NBK rankings. On the other hand, the UCI Anteaters look like their bubble has burst sitting Next Four Out.
Speaking of bursting bubbles, Boise St losing to Colorado St may have been fatal, as Joey Brackets has the Broncos in the ignominious position of First Team Out. As many as two more bids could be stolen on Sunday so even if Joey B is a couple of spaces off the Broncos will be watching today’s games and the Selection Show with a giant bin of antacids nearby. NBK favorite conference the Mountain West is looking like a four-bid league with Boise St likely the fifth in that formulation and on the outside looking in.
Bryant, Liberty, Akron, and Grand Canyon were all favored in their conference finals and prevailed as expected on Saturday. NBK shout out to Mount St Mary’s, who we briefly transferred to the SWAC yesterday (oops), and their big win over Iona to win the MAAC. It’s the seventh NCAA appearance for the Mountaineers, and they have never made round two.
SUNDAY
The NBK is largely in the hands of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection committee. But first there is one bit of NBK business to be settled on the court on Sunday. The Ivy League Final pits Yale (69%$) vs Cornell on Sunday morning. The Big Red had a run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2010 behind Steve Donohue and a senior-laden club, so we at NBK HQ are putting our full support behind the Yale Bulldogs. Last year’s Yale squad pulled off a huge upset of Auburn in round one, and this year’s edition looks even stronger despite losing Danny Wolf to Michigan. (Wolf and Michigan take on Wisconsin today for the Big Ten tournament championship).
We mentioned bid stealers. If George Mason beats VCU, or if UAB upset Memphis, the committee will be scrambling to make final adjustments and shoehorn them in. We will all be adjusting to a new host this year as Adam Zucker takes the reins with the recent passing of legend Greg Gumbel.
Data courtesy Kenpom.com and ESPN Bracketology and ESPN Bubble Watch ($)