College Basketball Bubble Watch: 3/3

What is with all the bubble home teams blowing huge leads this weekend?  Syracuse, St. Joe’s, and Maryland all blew second half leads which could have greatly improved their chances.  Now, all three face must-win games to end the regular season.

Clemson, Miss State, and Pitt moved into the tourney with road wins against fellow bubble teams, while Ohio State, Kent State, Texas A&M, Houston, and the three teams mentioned above all took major losses.

Conference tournaments start on Tuesday and you can bet those teams unsure of their futures will be rooting for all the No. 1 seeds to advance.

Also, congratulations to Ivy League champion Cornell Big Red—the first team to secure a spot in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

31 conference winners will receive automatic bids, and 34 At-Large berths are also available.  20 conferences will send one team, while 11 may send multiple teams.  Following, you'll find the breakdown of those conferences.

A10

Locks 1: Xavier

Bubble 3: UMASS, Dayton, St. Joe’s

UMASS and Dayton both picked up the road wins they needed in order to stay on the bubble.  St. Joe’s suffered their second consecutive home loss and now to secure a legitimate claim they must beat X on Thursday and win at Dayton. 

ACC

Locks 3: Duke, North Carolina, Clemson

Bubble 3: Miami, Virginia Tech, Maryland

Clemson’s comeback at Maryland put the Tigers safely in the field.  Maryland now faces a must win at Virginia to end the season.  VT has won three straight and needs to take care of business this week against Wake to stay in the hunt.

Big East

Locks 6: UCONN, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Louisville, Pitt

Bubble 3: West Virginia, Villanova, Syracuse

Syracuse's home collapse basically summed up their season, and an NIT berth barring a monster run in the BE tournament.  Seton Hall is also NIT bound after their choke-job at St. John's. WVU still can’t win away from Morgantown, and Nova needs to finish strong to have a chance.

Big 10

Locks 4: Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan State

Bubble 0:

OSU is done, losing to Minnesota by double digits.  The Big Ten sends four.

Big 12

Locks 2: Kansas, Texas

Bubble 4: Baylor, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas A&M

Baylor and Oklahoma both won, improving their status.

Kansas State has now lost four straight and needs to win both remaining regular season games to stay in contention.  A&M is extremely inconsistent, but could turn it around with wins at Baylor and at UMASS to end the season.

Conference USA

Locks 1: Memphis

Bubble 2: UAB, Houston

UAB won, keeping them square on the bubble.

Houston lost to a horrible East Carolina team.  Come Selection Sunday, they will most likely stand outside looking in.

Missouri Valley

Locks 1: Drake

Bubble 3: Illinois State, Southern Illinois, Creighton

Illinois State picked up a huge road win at Southern Illinois on Saturday and is the clear-cut No. 2 team out of the MVC. SIU and Creighton remain in limbo because the bubble is so weak this year.

Mountain West

Locks 0:

Bubble 3: BYU, UNLV, New Mexico

New Mexico has to beat UNLV on Tuesday to stay in contention.  If BYU wins the Regular Season title this week, they will move into lock status.

Pac 10

Locks 3: Stanford, UCLA, Washington State

Bubble 3: USC, Arizona State, Arizona

If USC and Arizona State each win one more game, they will both be locks. Arizona blew a chance to lock up a bid by losing to UCLA.  Still, they probably need only one more in the regular season and one in the tourney to secure a bid.

SEC

Locks 3: Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State

Bubble 4: Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss

Miss State moves in after their road victory on Saturday clinched the SEC West.  Arkansas picked up a monster win against Vandy and Ole Miss stayed alive by beating Alabama. Kentucky looked like a tournament team hanging with UT on Sunday, but close losses can only take you so far.

WCC

Locks 2: St. Mary’s, Gonzaga

Bubble 0:

The Zags won the rematch on Saturday.  It seems the WCC will be a two-bid league.

Other At-large Candidates

Locks 1: Butler

Bubble 4: Davidson, South Alabama, VCU, Kent State

Davidson, South Alabama, and VCU all stayed the course and took care of business on Saturday. Kent lost and needs to finish the regular season strong just in case the Flashes don’t win the MAC tournament.