Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

Sporting News, The, March 14, 1994 by Ted Rodgers

Tulsa was bumped from the Missouri Valley Tournament. The MVC has one automatic berth. Coach Tubby Smith says Tulsa can "play with just about anybody in the country." Tulsa took Arkansas to overtime and played Oklahoma State tough, but lost each game.

Coppin State scheduled and played tough games on the road against Kansas State, Virginia, Missouri, Oklahoma and Boston College, but will probably need to win the Mid-Eastern Athletic's automatic berth.

Pope goes the bubble

West Virginia once seemed a lock, then went 3-6 in February. A loss at home to St. Joseph's was a killer.

Xavier and Evansville play in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, which doesn't have an automatic berth. Xavier lost by 30 at Evansville, and four of six down the stretch. Evansville's schedule is weak. "I don't think either Evansville or Xavier is much in line for the NCAA right now," Evansville Coach Jim Crews says.

DePaul plays in the Great Midwest, which should send four teams to the tournament (St. Louis, Alabama-Birmingham, Marquette, Cincinnati). It is a terrific conference, but only three years old. Not only does it not have an automatic berth, but not enough history to get five teams into the tournament.

Nebraska beat Kansas and swept Kansas State, another bubble team. But when you look beyond the computer, you see Nebraska has lost in the first round of the last three tournaments, to Xavier 89-84, Connecticut 86-85, and New Mexico State 93-79. Ouch.

Let me talk to that computer

Arizona State's season seemed over when it lost three starters to injury in December. But it started the Pac-10 season 6-2. The Sun Devils need all the wins they can get to persuade the selection committee to overlook that start.

Brigham Young scheduled, recruited, and planned for the season expecting to have Shawn Bradley. Oops. But Roger Reid did one of the marvelous jobs of coaching. They were 5-2 in February.

College of Charleston is not eligible for the Trans America's automatic berth -- it is too recent a member -- but is the best team. It has beaten South Carolina and Alabama.

Oklahoma learned the hard way that playing outside Division I hurts when it comes to a tournament berth -- it was left out last year because of its weak schedule. Oklahoma beefed up that schedule this season, and wants to be rewarded. But after getting to 14-7, it lost three in a row.

Texas Pan American, in Coach Mark Adams' second season, has eclipsed the school's win total for the past three seasons (seven, zero and two) to become one of the country's best turnaround stories. It won't survive to get the Sun Belt's automatic berth, but will survive to lobby for a reward.

Tulane's longest winning streak is four, and the Metro Conference has a low power rating. But if the Green Wave can make the Metro tournament final (hello, Louisville), Tulane will put itself on the bubble.

Michigan State points out that no 10-8 Big Ten team has failed to make the tournament. The Spartans lost four in a row in early February, then won the next four. Games against Indiana and Penn State are crucial. "We're not throwing in the towel," says Jud Heathcote, who also survived an internal threat to get the OK to remain as coach.