March Madness 2019: Highlighting Tournament's Most Dangerous Bubble Teams

With Selection Sunday right around the corner on March 17, a wide array of college basketball teams still have a chance to state their respective cases to the NCAA tournament selection committee. 

A mixture of power-conference programs and mid-major teams are jockeying for position on the bubble, and because the bubble is so soft this season, plenty of programs have opportunities to get hot and enter the field of 68 as dangerous teams. 

Mid-majors have been in the bubble mix for most of the regular season, and although they could be dangerous when it comes to first-round upsets, they might not receive the chance to prove their worth in the field of 68. 

A few power-conference programs, like Indiana, are making a late push to join the at-large conversation, and because of the late surges by the Hoosiers and others, the bubble discussion will become more interesting by the day. 

Most Dangerous Bubble Teams

Indiana

Upon first glance, Indiana's record is far from impressive, as it sits one game above .500 with two conference games remaining. 

The Hoosiers had losing streaks of seven and five games in Big Ten play, but thanks to wins over Michigan State and Wisconsin, and a weak bubble, they are in the discussion with two weeks left until Selection Sunday. 

The high-profile victories achieved in the last week by Archie Miller's team are most important to its resume, as it now has three conference wins over ranked teams.

AJ Mast/Associated Press

In addition to the trio of Big Ten victories over ranked opponents, the Hoosiers have nonconference wins over Marquette, Louisville and Butler. 

Although their record isn't as good as other bubble teams, the Hoosiers have one of the better collections of quality wins. 

As Rob Dauster of NBC Sports noted, Indiana's 6-9 Quadrant 1 record and quality wins have the Hoosiers in the bubble conversation.

If Indiana takes care of business against Illinois and Rutgers, it'll ride a full wave of confidence into the Big Ten tournament, where unexpected results have occurred in recent years. 

With an inspired group of young players and a tournament berth within their reach, the Hoosiers could follow in the footsteps of Michigan in 2017 winning the Big Ten tournament as a No. 8 seed, or seventh-seeded Penn State, which made the Big Ten semifinals in 2018. 

If Indiana picks up at least two wins in Chicago, it will hold 20 wins and likely another quality victory in hand, which may make it too hard to pass up in the eyes of the committee, and in turn it makes it a dangerous team as a double-digit seed. 

Utah State

The first-place team in the Mountain West Conference delivered a statement Saturday by knocking off Nevada. 

With its victory over the Wolf Pack, Utah State moved into a half-game lead over Nevada for the regular-season title in the Mountain West. 

But there's more than one reason to keep an eye on the Aggies in March, as they've reeled off six straight wins and won 13 of their last 14 games. 

At 24-6, and with a win over Nevada in their possession, the Aggies should be one of the few mid-major programs considered for an at-large bid. 

Young Kwak/Associated Press

Of course, the best possible situation for the Mountain West is for Utah State to win the conference tournament and nationally-ranked Nevada to get in as the at-large team. 

Utah State presents a dangerous matchup for any postseason opponent because of guard Sam Merrill, who has reached 20 points in eight of his last 11 games, and center Neemias Queta, who averages 11.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

As of right now, the Aggies are projected as a No. 9 seed by Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com and a No. 12 seed by ESPN's Joe Lunardi.

If Utah State lands between a No. 9 and No. 12, it'll be a tough matchup for the better seed to play against, and it could lead to the Aggies knocking off a power-conference program. 

Furman 

The Southern Conference has been appointment viewing for mid-major lovers all season long, but there's still a concern only one of the league's teams get into the field of 68. 

Wofford has garnered the most recognition on a national level during SoCon play, but it was Furman who put the conference's strengths into the spotlight from the start of the season. 

The Paladins, who are 24-6 overall and 13-5 in conference play, knocked off Loyola-Chicago and Villanova on their way into the AP Top 25 during their nonconference slate.

Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

Since January 31, the Paladins have one loss, which came at the hands of Wofford on February 23. That win could have drastically improved their NCAA tournament hopes. 

At the moment, Furman sits in the First Four Out of Palm's projections and the Next Four Out according to Lunardi and SBNation's Chris Dobbertean. 

Although they're on the outside looking in, the Paladins have opportunities in front of them at the SoCon tournament, as they'll get a shot at two of the top three teams in the league if form holds. 

If Furman continues its strong run of form into the SoCon tournament, it could land as a dangerous No. 12 or No. 13 seed that could cause plenty of trouble against the competition's top teams because of the experience it gained from nonconference play. 

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90

Statistics obtained from ESPN.com