Andy Glockner has updated his Bubble Watch for Sports Illustrated. Glockner believes that the Big 4 in The Big East are safely in, but ranks Villanova just outside in the “Should Be In” category.
“Villanova (19-4, 7-3; RPI: 12, SOS: 24) is now clearly next in the batting order after edging Providence and drilling Syracuse, and you could make a strong argument that they should be one level higher than this, as the resume is quite comparable with Marquette’s given the Golden Eagles’ easier conference schedule so far. Nova’s remaining schedule isn’t easy, though, so let’s hold off a week. The Wildcats can help themselves on Tuesday night when they host Marquette in the return match from their New Year’s Day loss in Milwaukee.”
For what it’s worth, Glockner also ranks Syracuse in this category, and Cincinnati, Georgetown, Providence and Notre Dame as “In The Mix.”
…I’m going to still place myself on the cautious side and agree with Glockner here…a win over Marquette tomorrow completely changes that though and throws Villanova into lock status…as far as the other teams are concerned, I have a really hard time seeing Notre Dame in the Tournament…I suppose they could go on a monster run to end the year but 7 in a row (despite a rough schedule) is almost unheard of from a tournament team…
