It's been another very interesting year in college hoops and while I didn't get a chance to build as many brackets as in other years, I'm glad I was able to get a few in and, most importantly, the final one here on Selection Sunday.
The last few spots in the field were very difficult to decide on, but in the end, the nods went to North Carolina State and Arizona State over teams such as Clemson, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State.
The Wolfpack have no bad losses, which is usually key for a tournament resume. They did only end up with one Quad 1 victory but it's one that looks much better today as it was a home win over the ACC tournament champions Duke. A home win over the No. 1 seed Miami also helps their cause as does a key bubble win over Vanderbilt. Who would have thought that win could potentially pay huge dividends for the Pack?
As for Arizona State, having a winning record on the road as a bubble team should be a good look in the committee's eyes and the Sun Devils went 7-6 in true road games and 5-1 on neutral floors, including a key win over USC in the Pac-12 quarterfinals and what is now an important non-conference win over Creighton, one of the better non-conference wins among the bubble teams.
Clemson and Vanderbilt made strong pushes late, but Clemson was a very weak non-conference schedule, though they did beat Penn State which became a better win. If they get left out, they can point to their three losses to sub-200 NET teams including Louisville which was sub-300.
As for Vanderbilt. they also had some rough losses to overcome, though not nearly as bad as Clemson. Their best non-conference win was Pittsburgh, but they did lose to NC State and lost in conference play to LSU, who was the punching bag of the SEC this season.
And with Oklahoma State, it's just tough to see them getting in at 18-15, even with having six Quad 1 wins. But they did lose 12 such games, so it's not like they didn't have opportunities for more. In fact, of their 12 Q1 losses, only four were by single digits. And their best non-conference win? Sam Houston State. No disrespect to the Bearkats, but they're not exactly a team the committee will praise the Cowboys for winning against.
Now, would it be surprising for any of those three to get in? No. That's why they're bubble teams. You can pick apart all of these resumes and make a case for or against. That's why they're bubble teams. In the end, the Wolfpack and Sun Devils sneak through and into Dayton for the First Four.
So with all that being said, let's take a look at the final bracket for this season and hope it does well in the Bracket Matrix.
