The regular season comes to a close today, with several monstrously important games on tap. The inside track for a No. 1 seed is at stake, and bubble teams could see a bid thief steal one of the valuable bids to the NCAA Tournament.
In East Lansing, Michigan State could move a lot closer to securing a No. 1 seed if the Spartans complete the season sweep of Ohio State. Despite Duke’s loss at home to North Carolina last night, the Blue Devils have a slight edge over Michigan State right now when considering each team’s full body of work. The résumés are nearly identical, and Duke has a quality win over Michigan State on a neutral court. However, if the Spartans beat Ohio State, they’d have a paper-thin edge on the Blue Devils. North Carolina’s résumé is quickly improving, too, and Michigan State needs the win to remain ahead of the Tar Heels.
After today, the No. 1 seed situation will remain static until the Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC tournaments get started later this week. Selection Sunday could be chaotic because the ACC and Big Ten play their championships that afternoon.
Meanwhile, bubble teams will be sweating it out again today when Illinois State plays Creighton for the Missouri Valley’s automatic bid. The Redbirds upset Wichita State yesterday and would make the Missouri Valley a three-bid conference with a win against Creighton today. Bubble teams breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Murray State found away to deny Tennessee State a championship.
Here are the latest brackets, with the next set coming out Tuesday morning. Check out the Bracket Project’s matrix to see a full slate of predicted brackets.
