With the NCAA Tournament Selection Show coming up on Sunday, we’ll spend this week tracking the bubble teams to see who has improved their standing for an invite. Wednesday was a huge day, both for conference champs and for at-large NCAA bids.
A look at our last 8 in, first 8 out after Wednesday’s matches. You can find the bubble teams as of the beginning of this week here.
| Team |
| Pitt (23-8) |
| Colorado State (22-8) |
| Illinois (16-13) |
| Marquette (23-7) |
| UNLV (23-7) |
| Wichita State (22-7) |
| Miami (24-6) |
| UNI (24-8) |
| —-CUT LINE—- |
| Baylor (21-10) |
| Cincinnatti (21-9) |
| Georgia Tech (23-8) |
| Temple (21-8) |
| UCF (22-10) |
| Indiana (17-14) |
| Alabama (19-11) |
| Arkansas State (25-8) |
Wednesday Update
A lot of bubble teams suffered losses on Wednesday, dashing late chances at a tourney bid. UNI was the only team to play Thursday. Here’s how it shaped up:
Wins:
- Pitt beat Virginia Tech handily, 3-0. The Panthers should be all but locked in for a bid, with just a trip to Virginia left on Saturday.
- UNI topped Loyola 3-0 in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. Their big tests come Friday against fellow bubble team Wichita State and if they win, Saturday in the conference championship against Missouri State or Illinois State.
- Cincinnati beat East Carolina 3-0 and are maybe the top team out of the 64 as of now.
- Alabama beat Ole Miss, but needed 5 sets to do it. Probably not enough to earn a bid.
Losses:
- Baylor lost to Iowa State at home and has Big 12 champs Kansas to close the year. Hard to make the tournament with a late-season run of losses.
- Georgia Tech lost to Miami and is in precarious position.
- Temple had a chance for a major upset over AAC champs SMU but dropped the match.
- UCF fell to Tulane 3-1 on the road.
Schedule
A look at the remaining games for the last 8 in, first 8 out:
Friday:
- Illinois @ Rutgers
- Marquette vs Xavier (Big East Tournament)
- Wichita State vs UNI (Missouri Valley Tournament)
- Cincinnati @ Memphis
- Georgia Tech @ Florida State
- Temple vs Tulsa
- UCF @ Houston
- Indiana vs Maryland
Saturday:
- Pitt @ Virginia
- Baylor vs Kansas
- Illinois @ Penn State
- Tentative: Marquette vs TBD (Big East Tournament)
- Tentative: Wichita State/UNI vs TBD (Missouri Valley Tournament)
- Indiana @ Ohio State
- Alabama @ LSU
Leave a Reply