Wednesday was another day when the majority bubble teams in action declined the opportunity to place their fate into their own hands, which resulted in a significant amount of shuffling between lines seven and 12. However, there were a few notable exceptions.
An updated S-curve for Thursday, with two new entrants is after the jump.
Here's a link to my Wednesday S-curve for reference. Any seed changes from yesterday are in parentheses.
| 1 line | 1. Ohio State* |
2. Pittsburgh* |
3. Kansas | 4. Texas* |
| 2 line | 8. Purdue (3) |
7. San Diego State* | 6. BYU | 5. Duke* |
| 3 line | 9. Notre Dame | 10. Florida* | 11. Georgetown (2) | 12. Louisville |
| 4 line | 16. North Carolina | 15. Syracuse | 14. Connecticut | 13. Wisconsin |
| 5 line | 17. Arizona* |
18. Villanova | 19. St. John's | 20. Texas A&M (6) |
| 6 line | 24. West Virginia | 23. Xavier* |
22. Kentucky (5) | 21. Missouri |
| 7 line | 25. Temple | 26. George Mason* | 27. Tennessee | 28. Vanderbilt (8) |
| 8 line | 32. Florida State (7) | 31. UNLV (9) |
30. Washington | 29. Cincinnati (9) |
| 9 line | 33. Utah State* (8) |
34. UCLA (8) |
35. Kansas State (10) | 36. Michigan State (10) |
| 10 line | 40. Illinois | 39. St. Mary's* | 38. Georgia (9) | 37. Old Dominion (9) |
| 11 line | 41. Marquette |
42. Butler | 43. Virginia Tech | 44. Richmond (12) |
| 12 line | 48. Gonzaga (IN) (First Four) |
47. Colorado (IN) (First Four) |
46. Minnesota (First Four) |
45. Boston College (11) (First Four) |
| 13 line | 49. Cleveland State* |
50. Wichita State* | 51. Harvard* (13 seeds begin) |
52. Belmont* |
| 14 line | 56. Kent State* | 55. Oakland* (14 seeds begin) |
54. Southern Miss* |
53. College of Charleston* |
| 15 line | 57. Bucknell* |
58. Long Beach State* |
59. Coastal Carolina* (15 seeds begin) |
60. Montana* |
| 16 line | 64. Murray State* | 63. Long Island* (16 seeds begin) |
62. Vermont* | 61. Fairfield* |
| 17 line (First Four) |
65. Florida Atlantic* |
66. Bethune-Cookman* |
67. Texas State* |
68. Texas Southern* |
| First Four Out |
69. Alabama | 70. VCU (OUT) | 71. Clemson | 72. Colorado State (OUT) |
| Next Four Out |
76. Nebraska | 75. Penn State | 74. Baylor | 73. Memphis |
At the top of the bracket, Duke helped their case for a No. 1 seed by topping Temple at Cameron Indoor, 78-61.
Wisconsin got a banked Josh Gasser three at the buzzer to beat Michigan, 53-52, seriously denting the Wolverines' hopes. Notre Dame Fighting Irish nearly lost a close one themselves, winning at Providence, 94-93, despite Marshon Brooks setting a new Big East scoring record for the Friars, 52 points.
St. John's keeps on winning at home, rolling DePaul, 75-51.
Kentucky's chances at a top four seed took another hit, thanks to another road struggle. The Wildcats lost 77-76 at Arkansas in OT. Texas A&M stayed alive, however, by pulling away from Oklahoma late, 61-47.
Purdue won at Indiana, 72-61, a key win for their hopes to move up to the two line.
North Carolina got a fight at N.C. State before prevailing, 75-63.
At the other end of the at-large pool, Cincinnati upset Georgetown in Washington, 58-46. That's a huge win for the Bearcats, especially since they host the Hoyas to close the regular season. Making matters worse for Georgetown, guard Chris Wright broke his left hand in the loss.
UNLV also grabbed a helpful win, 77-74 at New Mexico in OT.
Kansas State held off Nebraska, 61-57, with a lot of late Cornhusker mistakes denting their at-large hopes while simultaneously improving the Wildcats'. Colorado is also in better position, thanks to a 71-68 road win at Texas Tech. They actually move into this projection, along with Gonzaga, even though the Bulldogs will likely fall back out if they lose to St. Mary's this evening.
Boston College didn't have enough rally in them tonight, falling at home to Miami, 73-64. Thanks to so many other teams losing tonight, the Eagles barely stay in, dropping into the First Four. Other losers weren't so lucky, VCU dropped their third straight CAA game, falling at Drexel, 64-60. They're one of two sets of Rams now on the outside looking in, as Colorado State slides out too, even though they hung tough at BYU, falling 84-76.
Maryland's hopes remain on life support, as they toppled Florida State in College Park, 78-62, while Alabama struggled mightily to get past Auburn, 51-49, thanks to JaMychal Green's tip in at the buzzer. That would be what you'd call a bad win, especially since it was in Tuscaloosa. Conversely, Baylor missed a huge opportunity to jump in, as they were blasted by Missouri, 77-59.
Two other teams on the fringe of the bubble who suffered damaging defeats: Duquesne (losers by one at home to Rhode Island) and UTEP (dropped their third C-USA game in their last four at East Carolina.
Missouri State and Wichita State both picked up wins tonight, over Southern Illinois and Creighton respectively, so their meeting in Springfield on Saturday will decide the top seed for Arch Madness next week.
Friday is a Bubble Watch day, so I'll cover the at-large pool portion of the S-curve over at SB Nation.
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