The slates and non -conference stretches build the bases of the curriculum vitae of the NCAA tournament, but the February races do and break the way a program is seeded in March. In the middle of the conference, the only clear thing about how the support will get rid of is that each door seems slightly open.
The first year of power conferences in realignment sent Mercury in Retrograde, the Big 12 in the Shadow Domaine and Midmajors in position to possibly surprise and benefit from all this.
In our first iteration of Bubble Watch of this season, check that is outside looking, which needs a positive section, and which aspires its case of tournament lock.
Catchy
Locks: Our Lady
Projected in: North Carolina State State, Florida State, Duke, North Carolina, California, Georgia Tech
On the bubble: Louisville, Virginia Tech, Stanford
SPOTLIGHT ON: Stanford
Since the loss of the Bay Area Classic, an 84-59 Dubbing in Ohio State, the cardinal has gone 3-6. In addition to a defeat of the eruption in Duke, Stanford took each game wire, which is a blessing and a curse.
The cardinal lost a 2 -point defeat against North Carolina, a 3 -point defeat against CAL and a defeat in overtime against Clemson. The upheaval of Florida State is massive to stay afloat, but the new coach Kate Paye must start winning for Stanford to avoid missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1987.
Can Stanford imitate the breakdown of the end of the Arizona season last season? (Something that would be ironic since Arizona survived the wave to beat Stanford at the NCAA tournament.) With a solid schedule allowing a certain latitude and proof of concept in tight matches, the cardinal has opportunities against Notre Dame and Louisville this week.
Large east
Locks: Uconn
Projected in: Creighton
On the bubble: Seton Hall, Villanova, Marquette
Spotlight on: Villanova
Villanova is an explosion to watch the game. The Wildcats were competitive despite the return of only 35% of the minutes of last season. First year leader Jasmine Bascoe impressed his confidence and Moxie as a non -stop competitor.
However, Villanova is outside. He has important victories on Texas A&M, St. Joseph’s and Columbia, but the Wildcats must get into the Big East and close hard to impress the selection committee and get out of the bubble.
Villanova has lost tight matches against Marquette and Seton Hall (the other Big East bubble teams), but the Wildcats beat the two -digit Golden Eagles in the second meeting. With two games on the left against the second best team in the League, Creighton, Villanova can win an additional signature victory. One or two victories in the Big East tournament, in particular above another team of bubbles, could put this fringent team in the big dance.
Big Dix
Locks: UCLA, USC, Ohio State
Projected in: Michigan State, Maryland, Illinois, Oregon, Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan
On the bubble: Iowa, Washington, Minnesota
Spotlight on: Washington
The Huskies came out hot in Big Ten Play, argued near the UCLA before emptying three consecutive victories, including a quality victory in Illinois in Champaign. Washington has been 1-5 since this victories sequence, including three two-digit defeats.
The travel calendar was not nice to the Huskies, which deserves to be noted. But they are in a little dilemma. They are more than capable of playing on the field with a very close to the regular season, but all the last Washington games, except two, are against the tournament teams, including a third trip from the Midwest to Lincoln and Minneapolis this month- CI.
The team of coach Tina Langley is talented, but finding consistency is essential.
Big 12
Locks: Kansas State, TCU
Projected in: Baylor, Oklahoma State, Virginie-Western, Utah
On the bubble: Colorado, Iowa State, Arizona
Spotlight on: Colorado
With so many silums, it was not extremely clear how Colorado would compete this season with a new list. The buffaloes play with more concentration on the wing; All players except four measure 6 feet or more. Off Squad of last season, only 31% of the minutes and 28.8% of their score returned.
And yet, coach JR Payne has the buffaloes who are increasingly like an NCAA tournament team.
They are a little low in the net, touched by a defeat at the start of the season against Boise State, but put themselves in the mixture of conference by winning quadric victories over Virginia-Western and the state of Kansas. In particular, the state of Kansas was without Ayoka Lee, but the Wildcats are still remarkably talented. A next February section with matches against Arizona, Iowa State and Utah will take into account the viability of the Colorado tournament.
SECOND
Locks: South Carolina, LSU, Texas, Kentucky
Projected in: Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi State
On the bubble: Florida, Texas A&M, Auburn
Spotlight on: auburn
Johnnie Harris’ team has had a hard blow this season, with numerous injuries with an impact on tigers since the start of the season. Savannah Scott, who started most of last year, is missing all season with an injury. Taliah Scott, a star transfer guard, has played only three games and none in Sec Play. Kaitlyn Duhon, a key rotation goalkeeper, only played eight games.
And yet Auburn is still in the mixture. A plethora of narrow losses was history throughout the season, because the tigers had trouble performing offensively. But if they can continue to collect victories at the bottom of the dry and hang one or two upheavals, they have a chance to get started because of their schedule.
Midmajors
Locks: None
Projected in: Richmond, Harvard, South Dakota State, Columbia, Fairfield, James Madison, Belmont, UNLV, Ball State, Montana State, Middle Tennessee, Fgcu, Grand Canyon, Norfolk State, Gonzaga, Utsa, Purdue Fort Wayne, Lehigh, Southeastern Louisiana, Albanya , Hawaii, North Carolina A&T, Wofford, Fairleigh Dickinson, Longwood, Lindenwood, Texas Southern
On the bubble: Princeton, St. Joseph’s, George Mason, South Florida, Murray State, Portland, Missouri State, Northern Arizona, Drake, Green Bay
Spotlight on: Ivy League
When Harvard won a renowned victory in the non-conference game by removing Indiana (a team of planned tournaments) in the Hall assembly, he opened the door to Ivy League to become a multi-bid conference . The Ivy has long been strong, but a signature victory over an opponent of the power conference has a significant weight and allows flexibility in a league which generally only sends only automatic offer to the big dance.
However, as usual, ivy is also incredibly competitive, with Harvard, Princeton and Columbia in the running for an offer. The three teams are projected – but simply because the three are able to win the conference. The two that will not be on the bubble.
Harvard has solid victories, but his early defeat against Quinnipiac could hurt. Quinnipiac is a good team, but losing 23 points against an opponent Quad 3 is obvious. Crimson also lost against Princeton and Columbia. He does not need to win the League to do the tournament, but he cannot afford to harvest many more defeats outside the conference tournament.
Harvard, Princeton and Columbia have solid curriculum vitae, but compared to the bubble teams of the remaining power conference, they lack the possibilities of winning quadric victories. So bad losses cannot be granted.
Princeton faced a difficult hand, losing the star goalkeeper Madison St. Rose at the start of the season and turning to a new youth start range. Tigers probably need to win the league to do the tournament, but they won a key victory against their colleague team from Bulles Seton Hall.
Columbia is undefeated in Ivy Play and has victories on Princeton and Harvard, so he holds the cards in the conference race. The Lions won solid victories of non-conference against FGCU and Ball State and suffered competitive losses against Indiana and Villanova on their CV. The Key Key victories in Ivy Play made the strongest case of Columbia.
The most damaging thing that could happen for Ivy is to fight, each of the three bubble teams played again before the end of the regular season.
Athletics
This article originally appeared in Athletics.
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