NCAA Tournament 2017: Bubble Teams That Will Miss out on March Madness

For 68 college basketball programs, Selection Sunday brings the joy of realizing a season-long dream and reaching the NCAA tournament.

However, the committee's decisions also result in bubble teams feeling little but disappointment.

Whether it's due to a lack of quality wins, too many losses, not having the right conference affiliation or a combination of the three, several schools will fall short of March Madness.

And after surges from Kansas State and Xavier in their respective league tournaments, the dark side of the bubble has a clearer picture.

Selection Show Details

When: Sunday, March 12, 5:30 p.m. ET

TV: CBS

Wrong Side of the Bubble

Cal Golden Bears

Leon Bennett/Getty Images

Sporting an 18-6 record in mid-February, Cal appeared headed for a berth in the NCAA tournament. However, a 3-6 finish has the Golden Bears in an uncomfortable place.

Unlike several other bubble teams, a nonconference schedule wasn't the problem, since Cal played Princeton, San Diego State, Seton Hall and Virginia. But it only beat Princeton.

As long as the Bears defeated any of the Pac-12 powers once during the regular season, that wouldn't be an issue. However, they fell to both Arizona and Oregon twice and UCLA once. Then, in the conference tournament, Oregon won for a third time.

Cal's victories over USC, Princeton and Utah simply don't hold up, especially given bad losses to Colorado and Stanford. Plus, Utah obliterated the Bears by 30 points late in the year.

One year after earning a No. 4 seed in March Madness and returning a once-thought lottery pick in Ivan Rabb, Cal will be NIT-bound.

TCU Horned Frogs

Behind a dramatic upset of top-seeded Kansas in the Big 12 tournament, TCU launched itself back onto the bubble. But a loss in the following game to Iowa State ended those dreams.

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Similar to Cal, the Horned Frogs started strong before fading.

They were 14-3 after a 3-1 opening to conference action but dropped 11 of their next 14 games, ending the regular season at 17-14. Losses to Texas Tech and Oklahoma hurt, and picking up just three ratings percentage index (RPI) Top 100 wins didn't help.

While defeating the Josh Jackson-less Kansas team put TCU back into the conversation, it needed that Iowa State win to make a compelling case for an at-large bid.

Jimmy Burch of the Star-Telegram noted head coach Jamie Dixon took the possibility of being left out in stride, saying that, "We will be in the NIT and a high seed in the NIT. ... This is a big step for us as a program, a huge step."

Syracuse Orange

This is an interesting dilemma for the committee. How do you credit the Orange for quality wins while factoring massive struggles away from the Carrier Dome and a slew of bad losses?

On one hand, few bubble teams have comparable wins over Duke, Florida State and Virginia. Conversely, Syracuse also has five sub-RPI Top 100 losses.

For comparison's sake, Kansas State has two fewer RPI Top 100 wins but grabbed five of its six at neutral or road locations. Just one of the Orange's eight victories were on the road, contributing to their ghastly 2-11 record away from home.

Both teams played weak nonconference schedules, though Kansas State's only two losses were against RPI Top 100 opponents. Jim Boeheim's team fell five times—including three sub-100 losses—and mustered its best non-ACC victory against Eastern Michigan, which has a middling RPI of 172.

Syracuse would break its own record for the worst RPI for an at-large qualifier, and this year's team doesn't have the benefit of using a Boeheim suspension to its advantage.

The committee tabbing the Orange ultimately wouldn't be a shocker by definition, but we predict they're headed to the NIT. At least Syracuse would be in position to host a few games.

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Follow Bleacher Report writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.