Bracketology: Bubble Teams That Don't Deserve NCAA Tournament Bids

The seasonal science of bracketology has returned to the fore now that the calendar has finally turned to March Madness. Much about the NCAA tournament field will be decided between now and Selection Sunday, what with conference tournaments lighting up Championship Week and teams on the bubble hoping to strengthen their respective resumes with another quality win or two, if not an automatic bid.

As for these three teams, they'd be hard-pressed to earn at-large bids into the Big Dance, regardless of what they do this week.

North Carolina State

In the ACC, there's Duke and North Carolina at the top, then Florida State, then everybody else.

Included among "everybody else" is North Carolina State, a team with a 20-11 overall record and a 9-7 conference mark but no signature wins of which to speak. The Wolfpack failed to notch a single "W" against the ACC's upper echelon and, conversely, carries bad losses to the likes of Georgia Tech and Stanford.

As such, the selection committee would be wise to keep the Wolfpack out of the Big Dance, barring any miraculous run that includes wins over Duke and/or UNC in Atlanta this week.

Seton Hall

The only thing keeping Seton Hall on the bubble is the strength of the teams around it. The Pirates are just 19-11 overall after losing eight of their previous 12 games coming into the Big East Tournament.

To their credit, the Pirates have quality wins over VCU and Georgetown on their resume, though losing to conference cellar dwellers like Villanova, Rutgers and DePaul should be enough to disqualify them from Big Dance consideration without at least two or three wins at Madison Square Garden.

Oregon

At first glance, Oregon would appear to be an ideal candidate to make it into the field on its own merits. After all, the Ducks are 22-8 and are tied for second place in a BCS conference.

Too bad that conference happens to be the Pac-12, whose RPI ranks 10th in the nation, behind the Missouri Valley Conference, the Mountain West Conference, the Atlantic 10 and Conference USA, among others.

With nary a victory over a quality non-conference opponent, the Ducks' resume doesn't take long to dissolve, 13-5 league record or no. Winning more games against such weak competition in LA this week won't change that.

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