Bubble Watch: 2/28

There's no time for small talk: Arkansas beat Kentucky at Rupp. I figured they were going to get baked, but they took it into OT before winning by four. That is a huge boost for the Razorbacks who still have a chance to play their way into the at-large discussion. Georgetown blew an eleven point first half lead, rallied back late, and ultimately came up short against Marquette. The Hoyas are on life-support now, but all credit has to be given to them for not going gently into that good night.

Finally, if you stayed up really late or live in a different time zone, you saw Oregon knock off a UCLA team that suspended Jordan Adams and Kyle Anderson for the game. It would be interesting to know if the committee will weight the win differently in that the Bruins were missing their two best players. And that was before UCLA erased four point deficit in the last 6.2 seconds to send the game to overtime. Oregon even added two made free throws in there and then somehow lost a shooter on the final play of regulation. As I update this again, the game is heading into double overtime. Now, finally, Oregon has won the game and my original paragraph becomes semi-applicable again.

There's only one game on the docket tonight with any meaning in regards to the bubble, but it's a Big East battle, so Xavier fans will also be watching to see who is going to fall where in the final standings.

7:00 PM Providence at Seton Hall
The Friars are lounging right along the cut line, so they can't afford any missteps. Seton Hall, as we know, is a dangerous team, and they took Creighton down to the wire their last time out. This is a tough road game for the Friars, who have already put a lot of miles on their shoes this year. A loss wouldn't take them out of it, but it would leave them with a lot of work to do.

Take a deep breath, because there are 136 games on the schedule for Saturday, including Xavier hosting Creighton and a bevy of other matchups with tournament implications. It's going to be a good day.