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. Tuesday night had 2 of our original “last 8 in, first 8 out” competing. Both picked up expected wins.
A look at our last 8 in, first 8 out as of the beginning of this week:
| Team |
| Pitt (22-8) |
| Baylor (21-9) |
| Illinois (16-13) |
| Marquette (23-7) |
| UNLV (22-7) |
| Wichita State (22-7) |
| Miami (24-6) |
| UNI (23-8) |
| —–Cut Line—– |
| Cincinnatti (20-9) |
| Georgia Tech (23-7) |
| Colorado State (21-8) |
| Temple (21-7) |
| UCF (22-9) |
| Indiana (17-14) |
| Alabama (18-11) |
| Arkansas State (25-8) |
UNLV and Colorado State both competed Tuesday night.
UNLV defeats New Mexico 3-1
Only in third place in the Mountain West, UNLV has a real shot to make the tournament over second-place Colorado State (as noted below) based on a better record and a much better RPI score, despite losing to Colorado State twice.
Colorado State defeats Wyoming 3-2
After playing in 21 consecutive NCAA tournaments, Colorado State is on the bubble in 2016. The Rams took care of business against Wyoming, but will a 5-set match at home against the fourth-best team in the Mountain West be enough to earn an invite?
What is working in Colorado State’s favor is a season sweep of UNLV, whom we had in, while Colorado State was out. The Runnin’ Rebels have a better overall record (23-7 compared to 21-8) and are significantly higher in the NCAA RPI (32 compared to 48), but the Rams have a 2-0 head-to-head record, if it comes down to the two teams fighting for one spot. At this point, it feels like both might be in at the expense of one of the other 7 “in” teams.
Schedule
A look at the remaining games for the last 8 in, first 8 out:
Wednesday:
- Pitt vs Virginia Tech
- Baylor vs Iowa State
- Cincinnati vs East CArolina
- Georgia Tech @ Miami
- Temple vs SMU
- UCF @ Tulane
- Alabama vs Ole Miss
Thursday:
- UNI vs Loyola (Missouri Valley Tournament)
Friday:
- Illinois @ Rutgers
- Marquette vs Xavier (Big East Tournament)
- Wichita State vs UNI/Loyola winner (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
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