Well the first Bubble Watch from ESPN is out.

Some interesting notes in this early document:

--Purdue, the #10 team in the country, is not a lock.

--Gonzaga, Butler, and Memphis could all miss the tourney.

--The Big Ten, ACC, and PAC-10 have just 1 lock a piece.

--Syracuse at 18-4 is not a lock.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bubblewatch

2 thoughts...

Cuse and Carolina are IN, barring any(more) 3-5 game losing streaks.


Well it was going to be 2 thoughts, but I made it one.

Indianas chances took a huge hit today with the loss of Christian Watford. Sigh. Now without our 3 best players and top 2 scorers...Oh well.

If we are looking at team resumes through today only and projecting their future results based off the measuring material we have to this point, then Gonzaga, Michigan State, Kansas State and Butler would be near locks not to get tickets. Astonishing, really. Injuries and player dismissals have certainly factored, but Michigan State was the preseason No. 2 team in the land, and coming off a Final Four appearance. Kansas State was an Elite Eight contestant last season and the nation's No. 3 team this year. Gonzaga has been in the NCAA Tournament every season since reaching the Elite Eight of the 1999 NCAA Tournament. And there's a very good chance none of these teams will Dance this March.

Butler is clearly the least surprising of the three, but still a surprise nonetheless being a team that is a year removed from participating in the national championship game and featuring three key starters from that NCAA runner-up squad. Matt Howard, while still a very productive player, is just not the force he was with Gordon Hayward stealing some of the attention at the forward position.

Purdue Minnesota and Wisconsin are all locks, what a joke.

MSU won't make the tournament, bank it.

The Big East won't get 10 teams in.

sleeper;661642 wrote:Purdue Minnesota and Wisconsin are all locks, what a joke.

MSU won't make the tournament, bank it.

The Big East won't get 10 teams in.

Lol it has them gettin 11 in

Classyposter58;661669 wrote:Lol it has them gettin 11 in

One would normally exclude 11 if 10 would not get in.

Purdue and Wisconsin are locks. I believe Minnesota, MSU, and Illinois all get in.

sleeper;661671 wrote:One would normally exclude 11 if 10 would not get in.

I think he's laughing at the fact that they think 11 teams from the BE will get in.

Yea, ESPN likes to hype the BE in basketball like they do the SEC in football.

You think maybe that the SEC is good in football and the Big East is good in basketball has something to do with the publicity.

I know they are not the Big Ten in either sports, but gosh.

johngrizzly;661899 wrote:You think maybe that the SEC is good in football and the Big East is good in basketball has something to do with the publicity.

I know they are not the Big Ten in either sports, but gosh.

or it's the lucrative TV contracts.....

se-alum;661923 wrote:or it's the lucrative TV contracts.....

Yea, that's probably it.

johngrizzly;661899 wrote:You think maybe that the SEC is good in football and the Big East is good in basketball has something to do with the publicity.

I know they are not the Big Ten in either sports, but gosh.

Is the Big East good in basketball? They have 16 teams, half of which blow cock. This inflates the top teams overall record. So the Big East is like essentially every other power conference, top heavy.

sleeper;662257 wrote:Is the Big East good in basketball? They have 16 teams, half of which blow cock. This inflates the top teams overall record. So the Big East is like essentially every other power conference, top heavy.

Notice I said good, not great. Big Ten is where it's at.

I'm not sure how Butler is even considered on the bubble at this point. They aren't even close in my opinion.

Minnesota is playing themselves onto the bubble, getting run at Indiana. It's a shame, with Nolan and Joseph they were a team that could have made a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Cleveland Buck;662544 wrote:Minnesota is playing themselves onto the bubble, getting run at Indiana. It's a shame, with Nolan and Joseph they were a team that could have made a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

Even without them...you cant lose to a team that lost Christian Watford and Maurice Creek, and Verdell Jones III was playing his first game back in 2-3 weeks.

I said after the last loss to Purdue that Minny is done without a PG. I stand by that. How many TO did Haffarber have tonight and IU just gave the Big Ten the blueprint. Box and 1 all over the court with him. That Hollins kid, #20, was the ONLY other option on offense for Minny...IU was just giving them 10 feet on the perimeter to shoot.

Syracuse got a much needed win tonight at #7 Uconn.

Sparty's chances took a rather large hit tonight.

lmao @ the SEC overrated by media comments. The last 5 national championships speak otherwise. And also, rpi shows that Big East is easily the best and rpi is unbiased.

Mulva;662433 wrote:I'm not sure how Butler is even considered on the bubble at this point. They aren't even close in my opinion.

They didn't help their resume at all tonight.

athlete37;664038 wrote:lmao @ the SEC overrated by media comments. The last 5 national championships speak otherwise. And also, rpi shows that Big East is easily the best and rpi is unbiased.

Wait what??

Wildcats, athlete is referencing March. The last five national champions were Florida, Florida, Kentucky, Arkansas and Mississippi.

I'm sure he's speaking to Florida's back-to-back (at least I hope so), but I don't see what that has to do with much of anything. That was a really good team; however, not necessarily representative of the rest of the conference, which was substandard in terms of national success compared to the Big East, ACC, Big Ten and Big 12 over that time.