By Michael Gross

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Arizona, Iowa St., Houston, Kansas, TTU

“Near Lock”

BYU

“Good Shape”

UCF

“Bubble”

TCU, OKST, WVU, Arizona St.

“Fringe Bubble”

Colorado

          The Red Raiders sealed a bid to the NCAA Tournament by beating Arizona on the road. Unfortunately, with the news about JT Toppin’s ACL Injury that happened last night; it’s hard to say how far they can go. It will also be interesting to see where they get seeded which will depend on how they look the rest of the way.

“Near Lock”

          Last week BYU knocked off Baylor and Colorado to move to within 1 win of sealing a bid. None of their final 6 games are a layup though! However, the odds are strongly in their favor of at least getting 1 of them to secure a bid.

“Good Shape”

          Very important win last night for UCF. They snapped a 3 game losing streak by knocking off TCU at home. Saturday’s game against Utah in Salt Lake City is very important for them. A win probably moves them up to “Near Lock”. A loss might drop them to the “Bubble” Section.

“Bubble”

         TCU has done so much good recently in their wins over Iowa St. and fellow bubbler OKST that the loss on the road to UCF doesn’t feel so bad. Now no question about it they are still right on the cut line. However, they have about the easiest closing schedule a Big 12 team can have that doesn’t involve them playing Utah. They host WVU, Arizona St. and Cincinnati. They’ll also play KState and Texas Tech (probably without their best player) on the road. A 4-1 finish should get them in. They might even be able to go 3-2 and get in if one of the wins is TTU.

         The Cowboys of OKST have lost 3 in a row and need to get back in the saddle quickly. They host Kansas before traveling to Colorado. They really could use a win over Kansas and if they don’t get it; they absolutely have to win at Colorado. If they lose both; they’ll move down. The only way they’ll move up is by winning both games.

         Big big win for the Mountaineers as they defeated UCF on the road. That’s a nice win to pair with their home win over the Jayhawks.  They are right on the cut line. Next up, they host Utah before traveling to TCU. They must beat Utah at home. Then the game on Saturday likely determines who is in and who is out of the field between those two teams with 3 weeks to go!

         That was a huge win for Arizona St. beating Texas Tech. Now they have that win along with wins over Texas and Santa Clara. I think if they hadn’t lost to ORST; they’d be in the field now. They still have a chance nonetheless. They do need a 4-1 finish though.

“Fringe Bubble”

         Tough loss for Colorado against BYU over this past weekend. I think they are going to have to go 5-0 the rest of the way in order to make it. That means they’ll have to beat both Arizona and Houston. Good luck!

          Finally, Baylor is off the page for good. They looked horrible last night against a Kansas St. team that is going through a ton of turmoil. They’ll have to win out to make it and at this rate the Bears are more likely to lose out.