Precap 2/24 - ASUN conference play closes, and Thruday's bubble games in review

 2/24

Recap

• Thurday’s Bubble Implications

On Thursday, some teams stayed in the competition for a tournament bid while a few others may have eliminated themselves from the tournament entirely.

Penn State, who was the last team in the Next Four Out, avoided a bad loss as well as picking up a solid win at Ohio State. They’re beginning to move themselves back up near the end of the season, and they have some tough but winnable games coming up against Rutgers, Northwestern, and Maryland, as the Northwestern and Maryland games would likely be Q1 wins. It’ll be tough, but I could definitely see Jalen Pickett taking over and leading the Nittany Lions to a tournament berth.

Next up, Charleston and Memphis both fended off tough league opponents in Towson and Wichita State, respectively. Both of these teams, if they were to lose, would likely be eliminated from the bubble, especially Charleston. Memphis likely would have been fine, as they were Last Four Byes, but with their difficult schedule coming up and a rough AAC tournament, it wasn’t a guarantee that they would make the NCAA tournament. They still have Cinci at home, SMU away, and a HUGE Houston game at home. They could go 0-3, but I doubt that will happen, and I could even see them making it up to a 7 seed if they win out. As for Charleston, they only have one game left against Stony Brook, so if they win that, then make it to the finals of the CAA tournament, they should be fine.

North Texas was in a must-win situation for every game up until the C-USA finals, but unfortunately, the Mean Green barely lost at Charlotte. This means they will have to get an at-large bid, but it’s definitely possible as long as they can get past UAB again as well as beat FAU. They’ll likely be a 2 seed for the C-USA tournament, and with UAB as the likely 3 seed, North Texas will likely have to defeat FAU and UAB to earn a tournament bid.

Michigan also had hopped back onto the “considered” section last bracketology, and with a new one likely coming out later today, and a win against Rutgers, they should move up to Next Four Out. It’ll take wins at Illinois and Indiana to make it back into the tournament from here, but if they can get fully healthy, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they make it happen.

Preview

• ASUN coming to a close

Today marks the first day that a full conference will finish their regular season, and with that, the ASUN tournament table is about to be set. At the top of the conference, Liberty and Kennesaw State are tied at 14-3, but with Kennesaw State winning the head-to-head matchup, they’ll likely earn the first place bid in the tournament. Unless crazy things happen. Liberty is at home against a bottom-half Queens team, who they just beat at Queens two days ago. Kennesaw State also has a very easy game at second-to-last place Central Arkansas, so though they should clinch first place, crazier things have happened.

• Must-win (almost) for Seton Hall

Seton Hall, a team at the back of “considered” as a huge uphill climb to make the NCAA tournament. That climb will be sparked by a huge breakout, as they’ve not looked like a team that could play Xavier and Villanova and win, then go to Providence and win there. But, they’ll need it to happen, and maybe Shaheen Holloway will start some of that St. Peter’s magic to get this Seton Hall team to make a run and make a push for the tournament.