Mark Schlabach of ESPN has posted this week’s ‘Bubble Watch’. Schlabach believes that 4 Big East teams are currently “locks” to make the Tourney, and I find it hard to argue. UConn is in the process of sewing up the #1 overall seed, Marquette is actually ahead of them in the Big East standings, and Pittsburgh and Louisville have had outstanding season thus far.
In the “should be in” category, Villanova and Syracuse make the cut. I’m in agreement again. While the Wildcats are approaching lock status (wins over ‘Cuse and Marquette and you can call them that), they still have some work to do, but they should be okay barring a total meltdown. The same goes for the Orange, who at 6-4 in the conference, have performed adequately and have a great OOC résumé .
In the work to do category, 4 Big East teams make the cut (Georgetown, Cincinnati, West Virginia, and Providence). Interestingly enough, Notre Dame is not mentioned at all. The Irish are definitely struggling, but you won’t convince me that they can’t get hot and sneak into the tourney.
Here’s what Schlabach wrote regarding Villanova’s NCAA Tournament chances:
“Villanova [18-4 (6-3), RPI: 10, SOS: 23] The Wildcats’ strong numbers suggest they should be a “lock” for an at-large bid, but their overall résumé leaves a little to be desired. Their 67-57 victory over Pittsburgh on Jan. 28 might go a long way in moving them off the bubble, but they accomplished little before then. They are only 2-4 against RPI top-50 teams, and only seven of their 18 victories against Division I teams have come against RPI top-100 opponents. Playing in the rugged Big East gives Villanova myriad opportunities to improve those areas — seven of their final nine regular-season opponents are RPI top-100 teams.”
…I agree with this assessment by Schlabach…all the stats look good, but I think they do need a couple more signature wins before we can call them a lock to make the Tourney…they’ll get a couple chances in the coming weeks…
