Ladies and gentlemen, we have made it. Selection Sunday has finally arrived and by the end of the day, we will know the full 68-team field for the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
For several teams, their inclusion to the Big Dance has already been set in stone and today is about finding out what seed they will receive and who they will match up against in their respective regions. But for a handful of teams still on the bubble, tension is high as they wait to find out whether or not they got into the tournament at all.
We’ll take a look at how Saturday’s games affected bubble teams’ chances to go to the 2024 NCAA Tournament. For reference where teams currently stand in the eyes of bracketology experts, we’ll use the latest brackets of Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Dominic Lese of Bracketometry.com.
Before we jump in, here are some notable teams on the bubble on Selection Sunday: Texas A&M, TCU, Michigan State, Colorado, Oklahoma, St. John’s, Virginia, Seton Hall, Indiana State, Pitt, Providence.
NC State 84, North Carolina 76
After dropping the last four games of the regular season, NC State walked into the ACC Tournament on the bubble and needed to at least make the championship game to have a shot at an at-large bid. Well, it went ahead and won the whole darn thing.
The Wolfpack pulled off one of the most remarkable runs in the storied history of the ACC tourney, entering as the No. 10 seed and winning five games in five days to cut down the nets. The run included victories over Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, Virginia, and North Carolina in Saturday’s title game to guarantee a spot in the Big Dance with the league’s autobid. Excellent news for State fans, bad news for other bubble teams.
Oregon 75, Colorado 68
Similar to NC State, Oregon was a team that needed to run the gauntlet this week to have a shot at the NCAA’s and did just that, knocking off Colorado in Saturday’s Pac-12 Tournament Championship Game to punch its ticket.
The Ducks knocked off UCLA in the quarterfinals before upsetting top-seeded Arizona in Friday’s semifinals to make the title game. That alone was probably enough to give them serious at-large consideration, but they left no doubt with Saturday’s title game win. Like NC State, bad news if you’re another team on the bubble.
On the other side, Colorado was another team on the bubble entering the Pac-12 tourney and it will be sweating it out ahead of the selection show this evening. CU is currently ranked No. 25 in NET and has four Quad 1 wins on its resume. Lunardi currently has the Buffs as one of his last four teams in, but we’ll see if the selection committee disagrees.
Florida 95, Texas A&M 90
After knocking off Ole Miss and Kentucky, Texas A&M’s bid for an SEC Tournament title fell short when falling to Florida in the semifinals. The Aggies have gone on a rollercoaster ride in the last month as a five-game losing streak seemingly put their NCAA Tournament hopes on life support, only for them to end the regular season on a three-game win streak.
Their nice showing in Nashville was enough to put them in the field of 68 according to the bracket experts but again, we’ll see if the selection committee shares the same sentiment.
UAB 93, USF 83
The No. 1 seed in the AAC Tournament got sent home on Saturday as UAB won a hard physical game against USF. Unfortunately for the Bulls, this ends their hopes of receiving an NCAA Tournament bid. Despite winning the AAC regular season title and rattling off 15 straight victories at one point, they still needed to win the conference tournament outright. Most bracket experts cited their weak strength of schedule and lack of Quad 1 games as reason for Amir Abdur-Rahim’s crew to not even receive at-large consideration and they’ll now most likely be looking at an NIT bid.
The elimination of a potential bid thief in USF was good news for other bubble teams. However…
Temple 74, Florida Atlantic 73
Temple continued its miracle run through the AAC Tournament by edging FAU in the semifinals on Saturday. As the No. 11 seed, the Owls have won four games in four days and now have the chance to do exactly what NC State did in the ACC Tournament by punching its ticket to the Big Dance with a fifth victory this afternoon. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that they are doing this amidst an investigation into alleged match fixing, but we’ll worry about that later.
FAU losing dropped it back onto the bubble, but Lunardi still has it in as one of the last four byes. Meanwhile, a UAB vs. Temple AAC title game is terrible news for other bubble teams sitting on the edge as it guarantees that one of these teams will be a bid stealer for the Big Dance.