One frequent thing most blogs do are FFI, LFO. I guess we’ll try one.
LAST FOUR IN:
Miami (FL):
Well, this has been a surprisingly decent season for The U. I mean, what with the leaving of Frank Haith to coach a VERY successful Mizzou team after a season that ended in a loss in the NITs. In steps in Jim Larranaga, and, miraculously, with a few games in the regular season left, Miami still has a winning record and a shot at a 20-win season. One bad thing about Miami is the fact that they have hardly beaten any good teams. They’re winless against ranked teams this season, and their only decent win is @ Duke (the first time Miami has ever won at Cameron). Their fate will depend solely on how they finish out the season. Four games left, two of which they should easily win (@ Maryland and against BC). Granted, this isn’t the Miami team that won the ACC Regular Season Championship in 2000, but I think they’ll make the tourney because of the Duke win and the fact that the selection committee caters to ACC teams.
Yale:
Kinda weird to see this team on the list, I know. But face it, for an Ivy League school, they’re pretty good. They’ll be a bubble team because it’s going to be hard for them to win the Ivy League considering the fact that they’ve lost to Harvard twice. They’ve got a pretty good conference record at 7-3 (which, if things go accordingly, they should finish at 11-3). Their next four conference games will be a deciding factor. They play four weak Ivy League schools next and, I believe that if they win all four, they’ll be in the tourney, with their senior leader, Greg Mangano at the helm.
Connecticut:
This has been the tale of two seasons for UConn. They start off 14-3, at one time at 9th in the polls. Then, they turn right around and lose 7 of their next nine because of various problems, one of which being their coach leaving for a period of time for medical reasons.
In all reality, UConn has four games left. They SHOULD win against Providence, Pitt, and Nova. No way they’ll beat Syracuse. That’ll leave them at 19-11 and a 9-8 conference record.
Oregon:
I’m very shocked with how well Oregon is winning. I mean, They’ve got eight losses, only one of which I’d say is unacceptable (Oregon St). Oregon has a crucial game up next at Stanford that could determine their fate. They’ve got some good wins including @ Arizona and against Stanford. Now, I hate predicting this because I, as much as the next guy, hated Kyle Singler. The thought of another Singler actually having a shot at the national title just kills me.
FIRST FOUR OUT:
Xavier:
Ok, what the hell happened here? This is a team that, at one point, was 8-0…Then came the brawl. Ah yes, everyone remembers the December 10th brawl with cross-town rivals Cincinnati in the closing seconds of a blowout. That brawl led to the suspension of many players, including some of the best on Xavier. They never really recovered from there. They’ve lost some piss-poor games this year, including one to Hawaii in OT and another game to fellow bubble team Dayton. I believe these losses, paired with the lack of playing well in their wins will keep them from the big dance.
Wyoming:
Ok. Not gonna lie; I know shit about this team. I just know that with an 18-7 record, including a 4-5 conference play record, they’re on the bubble. I mean, I don’t think the Cowboys deserve to make the tourney with losses to awful teams like Air Force and Green Bay. They also lost to a 20-8 Denver team (not terrible, but they should have won it). I bet they’ll lose two more games this season and not even be in bubble talk after that.
Northwestern:
I know; sad right? I mean, this team seems to always have a legitimate shot at the tourney, then Big Ten play comes around and they tank. I mean, in non-conference play, they lost to teams they should have lost to-Creighton and Baylor. The fact of the matter is that they can’t hang with most Big Ten teams. They have only won Big Ten games against the worst teams like Penn St, Nebraska, Illinois, and Minnesota. It’s a shame, really. Looks like this will just continue to add to the record of never being in an NCAA tourney.
Dayton:
In my opinion, this team shouldn’t really be on the bubble. They’ve (IMO) won one solid game, and that was against Bama. Xavier could be a good win, but they literally just lost to them. I really see them finishing with a 19-11 final record, and making the NIT’s.
-Cameron (@preznewton44)