Welcome to March everyone. The holiday season for college basketball is here! Let’s unwrap the beginning of the madness for you.
If this past week is any indication, I would not want to be a fan of a school squarely on or barely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. With Saturday’s movement involving BYU, Boise State and Davidson, the selection committee has been given quite a test case for conference championship week.
BYU, which had 22 wins but none against RPI Top 50 teams entering Saturday, scored the best victory it could, winning, 73-70, at No. 3-ranked Gonzaga. All of a sudden, the Cougars have gone from my second four out of the field of 68 to a first-round game in Dayton (the last four in).
Kyle Collinsworth, the best player Provo has seen since Jimmer Fredette and another player the casual basketball fan needs to brush up on, scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and added three assists. The 6-6 junior swingman has an NCAA record five triple-doubles on the season while averaging 13.5 PPG, 8.6 RPG and 5.8 APG. He missed a sixth triple-double by one assist in an 84-59 win over Pacific on Valentine’s Day.
RUBIN: NEW BIG EAST PRIMED FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
But enough about Collinsworth. With BYU heavily in the mix for an at-large bid, the West Coast Conference, which many bubble teams hope would be just a one-bid conference with Gonzaga, now could be a two-bid conference. Getting to the final in the WCC tournament, which begins next week in Las Vegas, would help boost BYU’s at-large resume. A first-round exit could destroy it.
This is not the only mid-major conference that is looking to add more bids.
Boise State, a team on the bubble for most of the season, knocked off No. 24 San Diego State in San Diego to complete a season sweep of the Aztecs. The win not only adds tournament cred to the Broncos (22-7, 12-4), it also moves them into a first-place tie with San Diego State in the Mountain West. A 2-0 record against the Aztecs would give Boise State the conference title and automatic bid if the season ended this weekend. That would increase my allotted bids for the Mountain West to three (Colorado State is solid at 24-5).
The same goes for the Atlantic 10, where Bob McKillop’s Davidson (21-6, 12-4) beat George Washington, 77-66, on Saturday for its seventh straight win, moving into a three-way tie for first place with Dayton and Rhode Island. Since the Wildcats own victories in their only games against Dayton and Rhody, they are the de facto A-10 champ as far as my bracket is concerned, moving another bubble team over to the auto bid list if the season ended this weekend and giving the conference three bids (No. 22 VCU is a virtual lock and Dayton isn’t far behind).
So when a bubble team like N.C. State loses at Boston College (RPI 168) like it did on Saturday, this work being done by the BYUs, Boise States and Davidsons, could make the Wolfpack’s position on the bubble a little precarious. The Wolfpack (17-12) can be thankful at the moment for a win over Duke and victories at North Carolina and Louisville to keep it in the field.
THE MARYLAND DANCE CARD
Maryland couldn’t ask for a much better debut season in the Big Ten. The Terps, who beat No. 5 Wisconsin earlier this season, are 24-5 and sit in second place with a 12-4 record in the conference. With one of the better backcourts in the country consisting of Melo Trimble (16.2 PPG, 3.1 APG) and Dez Wells (15.0 PPG), this is not a team to reckon with in March. I see the Terps dancing as a 3 seed at the moment.
ONE MOVEMENT
Gonzaga’s loss is Villanova’s gain this week as the Wildcats move to the 1-seed line in our latest bracket. Arizona, with a big win at Utah on Saturday, is right behind Villanova. The Zags (29-2) will be hard-pressed to regain 1-seed status, but that should take a little pressure off them as the 2 seed once the tournament begins.
