MORE COVERAGE:lsureveille.com/podcasts>Hear The Daily Reveille’s bubble predictions
With the NCAA regular season coming to a close, several schools are jockeying for the tournament’s last at-large positions.
ACC: 8 teams inIN: Duke (22-9, 8-8) RPI: 14 – Even though fans in Chapel Hill want desperately for the Dukies to be left out, Duke’s top-15 RPI gets the Blue Devils in easily.
Georgia Tech (20-10, 8-8) RPI 34 -Wins over Duke, North Carolina and Memphis get the hot Yellow Jackets, who have won 7 of 9, into the dance.
Florida State (20-11, 7-9) RPI 48 – The Seminoles got in with a thrilling last-second 67-66 win over Clemson yesterday in the first round of the ACC tournament .
Out: Clemson (21-10, 7-9) RPI 36 -The Tigers put on a clinic in “How to Ruin a 17-0 Start 1001,” losing 10 of their last 14 to be left out of the dance.
BIG EAST: 8 teams inIn:Syracuse (22-9, 10-6) RPI 50 -Wednesday’s win over UConn makes the Orange a lock. Keep an eye on sophomore guard Eric Devendorf, who can score anywhere on the floor and averages 14 points per game while shooting 37 percent from the 3-point line.
Villanova (22-9, 9-7) RPI 18 -Reeled off four out of five wins at the end of the regular season to get into the dance. The Wildcats lost to No. 1-seed Georgetown 62-57 yesterday after being behind 24-2 in the first half.
West Virginia (22-8, 9-7) RPI 57 – The Mountaineers had a horrible non-conference schedule, but their outside shooting poses a threat to anyone in March.
Out: DePaul (18-13, 9-7) RPI 64 – Early losses to Bradley and Northwestern doom DePaul’s tournament hopes. Losing Wednesday to Villanova 75-67 also does not help.
Providence (18-12, 8-8) RPI 70-A 6-8 finish ruins a 12-4 start and ends Providence’s run to the field of 65. A 92-79 loss to West Virginia does the Friars no favors.
PAC 10: 6 teams inIn:Stanford (18-11, 10-8) RPI 56 -Wins over UCLA, Washington State, USC and Oregon make the Cardinal’s resume too much for the committee to overlook. The Cardinal needs to avoid an early loss in the Pac-10 Tournament but is probably safe even with one.
Out: Washington (19-12, 8-10) RPI 75 -The Huskies are just a shadow of the team that defeated LSU 88-72 in December, having a 10-11 record since the two teams met.
SEC: 4 teams inIn:Kentucky (21-10, 9-7) RPI 11 -Thursday’s 79-67 win over Alabama gets Kentucky definitively into the dance. The 11-game winning streak in the middle of the year did not hurt either.
Out: Alabama (20-11, 7-9) RPI 44 -Just like how the Kentucky win got the Wildcats in, Alabama’s loss keeps them out of the dance despite their having one of the most talented squads in the SEC.
Georgia (17-12, 8-8) RPI 65 -Two separate losing streaks of three or more games show the NCAA the Bulldogs are not tourney-worthy.
Mississippi (19-11, 8-8) RPI 61-The Rebels have lost three of five and blew their chances of winning the SEC West with a loss this past Saturday against Auburn.
Mississippi State (17-12, 8-8) RPI 66-What do Clemson, Winthrop, Missouri and George Mason all have in common? They are all average teams that dismantled the Bulldogs.
Big 12: 5 teams inIn:Kansas State (21-10, 10-6) RPI 59 -Ten conference wins make the Wildcats a shoo-in and also make Bob Huggins the National Coach of the Year.
Texas Tech (20-11, 9-7) RPI 42 -Two wins over Texas A&M and a win over Kansas make the Red Raiders too attractive to pass up.
Out: Oklahoma State (20-11, 6-10) RPI 58 -You can’t lose eight of 10 down the stretch and get in – end of discussion.
Big 10: 6 teams inIn: Purdue (20-10, 9-7) RPI 45 -The Boilermakers need a strong conference tournament, but they’re in – at least for now.
Out: Michigan (20-11, 8-8) RPI 52 -They blew a great chance against Ohio State, losing 65-61, and the 40-point loss against UCLA does not make them the most attractive of the bubbles. All of this can change today if they beat Ohio State.
Illinois (21-10, 9-7) RPI 35 – The Fighting Illini do not enough quality wins to get Bruce Weber into the dance, although we will miss his beautiful, bright orange jacket.
Mid Majors:In:Old Dominion (24-8, 15-3)-The Monarchs were not able to win the Colonial Athletic Conference but defeating Georgetown gets them over the top.
Air Force (23-7, 10-6) – A 10-6 record in the Mountain West is not overly impressive but defeating Stanford and Texas Tech boosts Air Force’s resume just enough to get them in. The Falcons have to avoid an early loss in the Mountain West Tournament to be secure.
Out:San Diego State (21-9, 10-6) -The Aztecs do not have a signature win that will put them over the top and land them in the Big Dance.
Missouri State (22-10, 12-6) -The Bears fail to get in out of the Missouri Valley Conference thanks to losses against Evansville and St. Louis while being swept by both and Southern Illinois.
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]