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As conference tournaments start to ramp up around the country in men’s college basketball and automatic bids begin to be handed out, the field of 68 for the NCAA Tournament is beginning to come into view.
And that means the margin of error (and time) for those teams on the bubble is shrinking.
Most of the bubble watching that will take place across the next several days will be on the SEC tournament in Nashville, as the conference searches to break the record for most bids by a single conference in a single year. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has two SEC teams — Arkansas and Oklahoma — in his “last four byes” and “last four in” categories and one SEC team — Texas — in his “first four out” category.
REQUIRED READING: NCAA Tournament bracket: Teams rising, falling before March Madness
However, the SEC isn’t the only Power 4 level conference monitoring the bubble and other conference tournaments (high-mid-low-major conferences). For example, the Big Ten has two teams that could join the likes of Michigan State, Michigan, Maryland and Purdue in the field with a strong showing in Indianapolis at the Big Ten tournament.
But then there also are teams that look like “safe” picks for The Big Dance, but could hurt their projected seedings with an early exit from their respective conference tournaments. Welcome to the madness, where nothing is for granted.
Here’s an updated look at the NCAA Tournament bubble, with which teams are locks and likely in the field as conference tournaments pick up in the coming days:
REQUIRED READING: March Madness bracket release date: Selection Sunday start time, how to watch, more
March Madness bracket bubble watch tracker
Tracker based on games through Tuesday, March 12
NCAA Tournament locks
ACC (3): Duke, Clemson and Louisville
Big Ten (8): Michigan State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Purdue, Maryland, Oregon, UCLA and Illinois
Big 12 (5): Houston, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Arizona and BYU
Big East (4): St. John’s, Marquette, Creighton and UConn
SEC (9): Auburn,…
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Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2025-03-12 11:01:00
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