March Madness 2015: Bracket Predictions for Nation's Top Bubble Teams

Nothing tops the actual madness in March, but there is plenty of drama at the end of the regular season as bubble teams jockey for positioning in the NCAA tournament bracket.

There are plenty of intriguing bubble teams this season, including a couple of blue-blood programs that have traditionally been safely in the field. Conference tournaments will take on even more importance for these squads as they try to pick up monumentally important victories days before Selection Sunday.

Here is a look at a few of the most interesting bubble teams and some predictions on whether they will crack the bracket or not.

Texas

Jim Cowsert/Associated Press

Texas started the season thinking about much more than just making the NCAA tournament.

The arrival of highly regarded recruit Myles Turner had the Longhorns thinking Final Four, especially when they were ranked in the Top 10 to start the season. Instead, it has been a season of high-profile losses with Texas missing on almost every opportunity to make a statement against a quality opponent.

In fact, the Longhorns are a whopping 1-9 against the RPI Top 50, per their ESPN RPI profile.

Included in those losses are games against Kentucky, two against Oklahoma, Kansas and two against Iowa State. Even one or two additional wins from that bunch would help Longhorns fans feel a lot better than they do with Selection Sunday on the horizon.

The good news for Texas is the Big 12 is so strong that there are a number of additional opportunities to bolster the resume. Texas still plays at West Virginia, at Kansas, home against Baylor and in the conference tournament.

Michael Thomas/Associated Press

However, the Longhorns haven’t proved themselves capable of winning any of those games. Just because opportunities are there doesn’t mean Texas is going to suddenly start taking advantage of any of them. The prediction here is that the Longhorns will continue to lose to those highly ranked teams, which will highlight that glaring weakness even more.

Football season can’t come soon enough in Austin.

Prediction: No NCAA tournament for the Longhorns.

Oregon

Chris Pietsch/Associated Press

Oregon had the same problem as Texas with a glaring lack of quality wins until Sunday’s monumentally important victory over Utah. Suddenly, the Ducks’ resume looks much better that it did on Saturday even. 

Per Oregon’s RPI page on ESPN, it was the first victory over an opponent in the RPI Top 25 on the season, although the Ducks only had four chances thus far. ESPN commentator Fran Fraschilla noticed Oregon’s effort during the victory Sunday:

The Ducks are an interesting case study because their remaining three games are all on the road. On the one hand, they have the chance to make an impression on the committee with some wins away from home. On the other, picking up victories away from home is much easier said than done, even if the games come against middle-of-the-road teams like Stanford, California and Oregon State.

Oregon is one of the hottest bubble teams in the country with six wins in seven tries, and Sunday’s win over Utah gives it even more momentum.

Chris Pietsch/Associated Press

The Ducks will parlay that momentum into a few important road wins down the stretch. That will be enough to get them into the NCAA tournament as a dangerous squad that proved Sunday it can beat some of the best teams in the country.

Prediction: The Ducks will make the NCAA tournament.

Xavier

David Kohl/Associated Press

Speaking of hot teams that have improved their resume, Xavier is looking fairly good right now.

The Musketeers have won four of their last five games, including a demolition of then-No. 19 Butler Saturday and a victory over archrival (and fellow bubble team) Cincinnati Wednesday. Those impressive wins have given the Musketeers some momentum and put bad losses to UTEP, Long Beach State, Auburn and DePaul in the rearview mirror.

The best news for Xavier fans is that guard Myles Davis thinks his team hasn’t shown all it is capable of yet, according to The Associated Press (via ESPN.com): "We definitely played up to our potential. I think there's still more to come."

There are a number of things working in Xavier’s favor, not the least of which is the impressive season from the Big East conference as a whole. Villanova, Georgetown, Providence, Butler and even St. John’s could put up a fight against the majority of leagues across the country, and Xavier has handled its business against plenty of quality conference opponents.

What’s more, the Musketeers are 4-3 against the RPI Top 25, per their ESPN RPI page. A winning record against highly ranked teams, a quality schedule and some impressive victories late in the season are more than enough to get this Xavier team into the tournament. 

Prediction: The Musketeers will make the NCAA tournament.

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