NCAA Basketball Bracket 2015: Latest Bracketology Before Selection Sunday
As the conference tournaments enter the final stretch, bracket predictions for the 2015 NCAA tournament are becoming more and more clear.
Whether it's a potential No. 1 seed solidifying its status on the top row or a bubble team going on a conference tourney run, this weekend marks an opportunity that some take advantage of but others completely throw away. While an upset over a ranked conference foe can get a team off the bubble and into the field of 68, a disappointing loss can have the opposite effect.
College basketball bracket experts are followed religiously at this time of year, especially by those who no longer control their own destiny and see their at-large hopes in flux. With that in mind, here's a compilation of three "Bracketology" experts' selections for the bubble teams and a closer look at some of those squads.
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2015 NCAA Bracket Experts' Predictions
| Ole Miss | Indiana | Texas |
| Texas | Ole Miss | Temple |
| Temple | BYU | BYU |
| Indiana | Tulsa | Ole Miss |
| Miami | Temple | Tulsa |
| UCLA | Miami | UCLA |
| Tulsa | Texas A&M | Richmond |
| Old Dominion | UCLA | Texas A&M |
Note: These rankings are courtesy of the following experts: ESPN's Joe Lunardi, CBS Sports' Jerry Palm and USA Today's Shelby Mast. All rankings are last updated March 13.
Bubble Teams
Ole Miss
If the Ole Miss Rebels miss out on the NCAA tournament, it will be safe to say that one fateful play did them in.
With an upset loss to South Carolina on the horizon, Ole Miss was bailed out when Jarvis Summers hit a three-pointer plus a foul shot to put the Rebels up 58-57 with seconds left. But Gamecocks guard Tyrone Johnson got fouled on a three-point attempt with just 0.7 seconds on the clock, made all three free throws and sent Ole Miss packing.
Despite the defeat, a number of losses from other bubble teams seemed to give Ole Miss just the boost to stay in the tournament, as Lunardi and Palm noted, per The Clarion-Ledger's Riley Blevins:
As for South Carolina head coach Frank Martin, he left no doubt of Ole Miss' place in the field, per Scout.com's Ben Garrett:
If Ole Miss makes the tournament, it has a real chance to surprise some folks on the opening weekend. The Rebels have star-caliber guards in Stefan Moody and Summers and came within one shot of beating Kentucky in an overtime thriller at Rupp Arena.
However, the Rebels' late-season slump could spell doom for their chances. After the SEC tournament loss to South Carolina, they have dropped four of five to finish the season.
BYU
The BYU Cougars have given the selection committee some tough decisions to make as Selection Sunday nears.
An inability to take advantage of quality opponents put BYU behind the eightball for much of the season, but the Cougars finished winning 10 of their final 12 games, which included a seven-game win streak. A lack of a Top 50 RPI win, according to ESPN.com, kept BYU on the wrong side of the bubble, but that all changed with a huge 73-70 road victory over Gonzaga in the regular-season finale.
BYU couldn't repeat the magic in the West Coast Conference Championship Game against those same Bulldogs, but to say that should put the Cougars out of the field would be short-sighted, as Yahoo Sports' Jeff Eisenberg noted:
It's awfully tough to imagine a team from the WCC getting into the tournament with nine losses and only one Top 50 win, but that win takes on a much heavier weight when it's on the road at Gonzaga—one of the toughest home-court advantages in college basketball. That win proved BYU can compete with anyone, as it showed in three close nonconference losses to NCAA-bound teams San Diego State, Purdue and Utah.
If the Cougars get in, their scoring efficiency should make them a tough out for any opponents that struggle on defense. Their 83.6 points per game rank second in the NCAA, per ESPN.com.
Temple
The No. 4 seed in a surprisingly strong American Athletic Conference, Temple is adding the wins it needed in its conference tournament to bolster an at-large bid.
The Owls got off to a strong start over the weekend with a 80-75 win over Memphis, with Will Cummings and Obi Enechionyia combining for nine points in the final minute of a clutch victory. That advances them to Saturday's semifinal, where the top-seeded and 20th-ranked SMU Mustangs await.
While a loss would have crushed Temple's hopes, an entertaining win might be just enough to get them over some of the other bubble teams, per Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde:
A semifinal victory over the Mustangs—whom they lost to twice during the season—would almost certainly put the Owls in the field, but it's hard to ignore their place should they lose. They only have two losses since Jan. 18, and they both came against NCAA-bound conference foes.
Having won 11 of its final 13 games to close out the season, Temple is heading in the right direction entering a pensive Selection Sunday.
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