March Madness Daily: Thursday's Biggest Bubble Games

Wednesday's Big East Tournament action saw bubble-hopefuls South Florida and Seton Hall each lose a must-win game, and both will now head to the NIT. On the other side, Marquette and Notre Dame both won, and more importantly, locked up bids to the NCAA Tournament.

But the story of the day was Cincinnati's big win over Louisville. With this year's weak bubble, the door is wide open for a team like Cincinnati to play their way into the field of 65.

Now, for today's quick look at the bubble:

Last Four In: San Diego State, Illinois, Ole Miss, Memphis
First Four Out: Washington, Rhode Island, Arizona State, Cincinnati

Without further ado, let's take a look at the jam-packed bubble Thursday.

ACC First Round—Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina

We'll start in the ACC, where Georgia Tech (43 RPI, 19 SOS) is probably in better shape than they should be due to the overall weakness of the bubble. The Yellow Jackets have stumbled down the stretch but have nice computer numbers and four RPI Top 50 wins. A win over 80th-ranked North Carolina will be enough to secure an at-large bid. A loss still may not be enough to knock the Jackets out the way things are going around the rest of the college basketball world.

SEC First Round—Florida vs. Auburn

Similar to Georgia Tech, the Florida Gators (54 RPI, 32 SOS) come into their conference tournament on a slide. However, Florida is in worse shape than Georgia Tech with a poor 3-8 record versus the Top 50 and a couple of early-season bad losses. Florida absolutely needs to beat 138th-ranked Auburn and then would move on to face 67th-ranked Mississippi State in the quarterfinals.

Mountain West Quarterfinals—UNLV vs. Utah, San Diego State vs. Colorado State

Of the two Mountain West bubble teams, UNLV (48 RPI, 104 SOS) is ahead of San Diego State (34 RPI, 68 SOS) in the pecking order. Quite simply, UNLV will be in the NCAA Tournament if they beat 158th-ranked Utah on Thursday and advance to the Mountain West semifinals.

San Diego State's situation is a bit more complicated. Only three of San Diego State's 20 wins are against teams in the RPI Top 100. Therefore, the Aztecs must beat 113th-ranked Colorado State just to keep themselves alive. A win over Colorado State will likely match the Aztecs with seventh-ranked New Mexico in the semifinals. A trip to the Mountain West Finals would secure an NCAA bid, but a loss before then might leave the Aztecs on the outside.

Pac-10 Quarterfinals—Washington vs. Oregon State, Arizona State vs. Stanford

The conference that has perhaps benefited the most from this year's weak bubble is the Pac-10. All year, most everyone—including myself—thought the Pac-10 would probably end up a one-bid league. However, both Washington (50 RPI, 59 SOS) and Arizona State (56 RPI, 69 SOS) have kept themselves alive and are now in a position to earn an at-large berth.

With the way the Pac-10 Tournament is seeded, Washington and Arizona State are slated to meet in the semifinals should they both win their quarterfinal matches on Thursday. That game will essentially serve as a play-in game to the NCAA Tournament. Whichever team wins that semifinal game and reaches the Pac-10 Final will be make the field of 65.

C-USA Quarterfinals—Memphis vs. Houston, UAB vs. Southern Miss

The two bubble teams from Conference USA are in the same position as the two Pac-10 bubble teams. Memphis (46 RPI, 78 SOS) and UAB (40 RPI, 93 SOS) will meet in the semifinals if they both win their quarterfinal matches on the Thursday. The loser of that semifinal will not make the NCAA Tournament, while the winner will be in great position to earn a bid.

Big East Quarterfinals—Cincinnati vs. West Virginia

Wednesday's big bubble winner was Cincinnati (60 RPI, 12 SOS) . The Bearcats were left for dead after crawling to the finish line in the rugged Big East, but have now won two Big East Tournament games and have a golden opportunity in front of them against fifth-ranked West Virginia on Thursday.

Cincinnati's win over Louisville on Wednesday was impressive, but not enough to propel the Bearcats into the field just yet. Cincinnati is still only 3-9 versus the Top 50 and just 7-14 versus the Top 100, but the Bearcats have not lost a single contest to a team outside the Top 100. If Cincinnati beats West Virginia, the Bearcats will be in the NCAA Tournament.