Bubble Watch: March 10

Yesterday's main stories were about the small conferences handing out automatic bids to the big dance as teams that have put together strong runs to their conference finals are finally rewarded with their moment in the spotlight. The only real bubble action saw BYU move to the WCC finals by beating Portland by 14. Today is a similar story with the focus once more shifting to the less heralded conferences and the lesser lights of the ACC before Big East, Big 12, Big 10, and Pac 12 action starts tomorrow. There is still one bubble team in action tonight, and they should be familiar to people who read this yesterday...

BYU vs. Gonzaga- 9 PM

The Cougars are in right now thanks to their #37 RPI, but the fact they have only one top 50 win and four top 100 wins coupled with their three sub-100 losses means that they are also primed to be victims if the bubble shrinks with bid thefts later in the week. One way to avoid that? Win tonight and clinch the WCC title. They beat Gonzaga less than two weeks ago, so it is not ridiculous to think they could replicate the feat tonight. This will not doom BYU if they lose by any stretch of the imagination, just leave them cheering for chalk everywhere else.

The bubble picture looks fiarly sparse tomorrow as well, but have no fear, things will be getting interesting once the Thursday arrives as the final week before the tournament dawns.