In case you may have missed it, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has been putting in some work with his bracketology updates over the past few days.
In his latest update, Lunardi included five Big 12 teams on either side of the bubble, which should add even more intrigue to an already impressive slate of games ahead. There was a noticeable difference between this update and his last one, however, as one program has officially left the bubble entirely.
A LOOK AT THE BUBBLE
The top-ranked Big 12 team remaining on the bubble is Jamie Dixon’s TCU Horned Frogs. They’ve remained in the Last Four In tier for the past three updates and have no intention of falling lower than their current placement.
After TCU, there’s a significant drop in rankings, as the next Big 12 team to be mentioned was Cincinnati, which earned the last spot of the Next Four Out tier (still eight spots away from making the tourney). Then, there’s West Virginia and Baylor hanging out off the bubble, technically speaking, but still earned a spot on Lunardi’s graphic.
THE CHANGE
Now, you may be asking: TCU? Cincinnati? We’ve known that they were fighting for a bubble spot for weeks now; that’s old news! That it is, and I wouldn’t argue against that, but take a look at the standing of UCF, Arizona State, and Oklahoma State.
The Knights have played well enough in recent outings to make their way off the bubble and safely into the Field of 68! The same cannot be said for OSU and ASU, though, as they fell off the map right after a one-week bubble stint.
What’s next remains to be seen. Could all of these teams find a way into the tournament field? Probably not, but you can’t ask for much better than a runway toward March for the regular-season title at the top of the league, and a fight on the bubble for everyone else. That’s just life in the Big 12, folks; it always matters.
With four or more teams in the bubble conversation, the Big 12 is poised to play a significant role in shaping the back end of the bracket over the next few weeks.
