5 BOROUGH SPORTS

St. John’s is the hottest team in America. Fact.

On Saturday they went to #14 Villanova and came away with a convincing 81-68 victory. This now moves the Johnnies to 11-5, with two regular season games remaining against South Florida and Seton Hall. It is now a possibility the Johnnies finish 13-5 in the Big East, and 21-9 overall going into the Big East Tournament. They will likely get a double bye as a result and begin play in the quarter finals.

No one wants to play them, nobody. This is a team that appears capable of winning anywhere in America right now and we’re all just sitting here in amazement waiting for them to come back down to earth. Little did we know when they beat Duke, it’d start this kind of tear, which is now 8 of 9 wins. If they can lock up the last two, the Johnnies could be one of the favorites to win the Big East tournament and secure a very seed in the NCAA tournament. Right now the Johnnies have moved up another seed line in my opinion. Come the next bracketlogy we’ll see them on the four line.

While the Johnnies win was big for the Red Storm, it didn’t have a large national impact, particulary on the bubble.

Today alot of games have taken place and teams are gaining ground and eliminating themselves all over.

Lets run it down…

Kansas State just about locked up a bid with a victory over Missouri. They should feel very good right now, and are just about a lock.

VCU is officially off the bubble in my opinion. The Rams lost at home to James Madison today and continued a series of bad play of late. They need to win the CAA to dance.

Missouri State locked up the Missouri Valley regular season title today with a victory over counterpart Wichita State. Both teams are now headed to the conference tournament seeded 1 and 2, but they’ve basically clinch the league as a one bid conference. Neither team looks to have enough on the resume to grab an atlarge bid.

Boston College beat Virginia today and stayed alive. The Eagles remain in, but still have work to do. They need atleast two more wins, maybe three to dance between now and selection Sunday. They have a big matchup with Virginia Tech this coming week.

Nebraska is out, they blew it with a bad loss to Iowa State. The cyclones had lost 12 straight, but snapped it Saturday ruining the good vibes for Huskers who have lost two straight since the upset of Texas. Barring a long run in the Big 12 tournament, the Huskers won’t dance this year.

Butler hung on against Loyala-Chicago and hangs onto their at-large chances. Butler needs to keep winning and could possibly make it if they lose to Cleveland St or Valpo in the Horizon conference championship. Butler’s resume isn’t good, but they have enough decent wins to stay on the good side of the bubble for now, but in my bracket as the predicted conference champ.

Florida State might have locked up a bid securing their tenth ACC victory over Miami at home today. Without Chris Singleton the Noles are weaker, but they might just have enough to hold on even if they lose their last three.

Oh boy Memphis, you got smacked. UTEP put the beatdown on Memphis today and put Memphis back on the wrong side of the bubble, as the Minors kept their slim hopes alive after they lost two games this week. CUSA doesn’t want a team to step up at this point as they continue to beat each other up, and have their elite take some ugly loses.

Alabama, thank you. The Crimson Tide backed up my smack talk and lost at Mississippi today. They travel to Florida Tuesday with a chance to get a needed big time victory, but I don’t think its going to happen. I had Bama out and still have them out, and its about time someone else like Joey Brackets realizes this team ain’t very good.

Clemson took care of business against Wake Forest today and moved to 8-6 in the ACC. The Tigers resume lacks any great wins and they’ll get their shot at the impossible Wednesday as they travel to Duke for senior night. Duke has two losses at home in four years, so even a competitive game at Cameron is good for opposing teams. With the almost definite loss to Duke, Clemson needs to win at home against Virginia Tech next weekend. If the Tigers can do that and then win atleast one or possibly two games in the ACC tournament I think they’ll probably get in. With all the bad losses for everyone else, the Tigers are hanging on and they need to try to not get hammered at Duke on Wednesday, but that might be tough.

Colorado, welcome back to the bubble. The Buffs beat Texas with a crazy good second half and now move back into the conversation. Looking back at their resume now, the Buffs are legitimately right there and if they can win at Iowa State and at home vs Nebraska this week, along with a win in the Big 12 tourney and they might be in decent shape. They came out of nowhere, but the Buffs are close and I might even have them in below when I evaluate the bubble teams.

Michigan beat Minnesota and put both of those teams in very interesting spots. Minnesota is now out for sure, and need to win their last two and then win some Big Ten tournament games. The early wins were great but this team looks lost and are now 6-10 in conference. Michigan meanwhile keeps its hopes alive. They have a huge game with Michigan State at home this week and if they can win that to move to 9-9, along with a win or two in the conference tourney and they could very well dance.

Harvard took a damaging loss to Yale basically ending any remaining hope they had of an atlarge bid. Princeton also looks to be out of the conversation, especially if Harvard ends up beating them for the Ivy League title.

UAB looks to be in the best position now in Conference USA after knocking off Houston. They have a good RPI and with the loses by Memphis and Southern Miss, the Blazers look like the best candidate for an at-large at this point from CUSA.

Colorado State took a damaging loss tonight as they went down to Air Force in blowout fashion. The Rams are now out after the loss and are staring down a trip to San Diego State. A loss there is likely and won’t help their chances. They need to pick up another quality win in the MWC tournament now for at-large consideration.

Georgia took care of South Carolina and now sits more comfortably well inside the bubble.

Tennessee meanwhile lost at home to Mississippi State, and are now in a bit of trouble. The Vols are now 17-12, but still sport many quality wins. They are still in, but treading mucky waters now. They can’t afford any more of these bad losses like their midweek matchup at South Carolina.

Illinois took care of Iowa and remains in the same position as the Vols, in but with work left to do to lock it up.

Southern Miss choked away a lead on the road at UCF and now falls further from the field. The Golden Eagles are not dead yet and UCF isn’t either as they are trying to make a late charge, but for now both are out.

Richmond took care of Charlotte and also remains in the field for now, and needs to avoid slip ups against lower quality A10 teams.

Duquesne lost at St. Louis and officially ended their hopes of an atlarge bid, they need to win the A10 tournament now.

New Mexico kept their slim hopes alive, but need to upset BYU in provo this week to get back in the picture.

Virginia Tech picked up a huge win tonight at home against Duke and put themselves in good shape for the time. If the Hokies beat BC this week at home on senior night then they are in. They have a matchup at Clemson Saturday which will be much tougher, but if they can get one more win they’re in, even without it the Hokies might have it.

Baylor picked up a big win against Texas A&M at home today and have now moved back into the conversation and I have them as my first team out. I had to pick between Michigan and Baylor, and favored Michigan because of the non-conference slate.

St. Mary’s took care of business against Portland and remains in the field tonight. They need to avoid another upset to teams not named Gonzaga before the tournament, or else they could be NIT bound.

Now a look at the bubble updated through Saturday’s games:

10 Seeds:

Michigan State

Virginia Tech

Georgia

Illinois

11 Seeds:

Butler

Richmond

Boston College

Tennessee

12 Seeds:

Clemson

Gonzaga

St. Mary’s

UAB

Colorado

Baylor

13 Seeds:

Missouri State

Charleston

Harvard

Belmont

Last Four In:

Clemson

Gonzaga

Colorado

Michigan

Last Four Out:

Baylor

Memphis

UTEP

Minnesota

Next Four Out:

Alabama

Maryland

Penn State

Colorado State

Others Considered:

Southern Miss

Nebraska

UCF

Wichita State

Washington State

Princeton

Mississippi

USC

Cleveland State

VCU

This entry was posted on February 27, 2011 at 3:08 am and is filed under Bracketology, College Basketball, St. John's. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.