Kentucky took another big step toward ensuring a trip to the NCAA Tournament with a win over Tennessee on Saturday as the Wildcats completed a season sweep of the Volunteers. I’m not sure I trust them enough to pull them off the bubble yet, but one more win would do it for sure.
Texas A&M got arguably its best win of the season by completing a sweep of Missouri. The Aggies have also swept Auburn and Florida, although the Gators are not a tournament contender. The rest of the schedule is challenging with home games against Alabama and Tennessee as well as a road trip to the Mississippi schools.
Wisconsin may have taken one home loss too many. The Badgers lost their fifth home game of the season to Rutgers to drop to 3-5 at the Kohl Center against Quads 1-3 teams. Oddly enough, they are 7-6 away from home against that group. It’s too late to write them off entirely with their remaining schedule, but you have to wonder if they are up to the challenge.
You can stick a fork in Clemson now after the Tigers lost at Louisville, the lowest ranked team in the NET among power conference schools, to give the Tigers their third Quad 4 loss this season. Clemson is 11-5 in the ACC and in fourth place but still seem to have no realistic shot at an at-large bid. That speaks to both the poor quality of the ACC this season and the damage the Tigers did to their tournament chances in non-conference play.
NCAA Tournament locks
Locks based on résumé: 12 | Bids secured: 0 | At-large spots remaining: 31
On the cut line
| Last Four In | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | 17-9 | 21 |
| West Virginia | 15-11 | 24 |
| Mississippi State | 17-9 | 44 |
| Texas A&M | 19-7 | 31 |
| First Four Out | Record | NET |
| North Carolina | 16-10 | 45 |
| Wake Forest | 17-9 | 75 |
| New Mexico | 20-7 | 53 |
| Penn State | 15-11 | 59 |
| Next Four Out | Record | NET |
| Seton Hall | ||
| Clemson | ||
| Arizona State | ||
| Utah State |
Check out all the teams on Palm’s Bubble Watch, the field of the 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub
Bubble teams in action Sunday
All references to NCAA tournament selection records and trends refer only to tournaments going back to 1994 with the exception of 2021. Due to shortened schedules and a relatively small number of nonconference games in 2021, those rankings were not reliable enough to be considered.
