Bracketology Bubble Watch: Analyzing cutline as Selection Sunday nears

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WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 01: Marshall of Xavier takes. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /

Selection Sunday is only days away but many teams are still hoping to make final pitches to the committee. Here’s our updated bracketology bubble watch.

Although there are seemingly constant updates with regard to the Coronavirus situation, Selection Sunday is still rapidly approaching in just a few days. Conference tournaments are taking place (aside from the Ivy) with or without fans in attendance and teams across the nation are fighting to add last-minute quality victories to the resumes they will show the selection committee. Mid-majors are also fiercely competing for their coveted automatic bids.

This entire 2019-20 season, on the whole, has been nothing short of crazy. So, as the NCAA Tournament approaches (at least for now), let’s dive into one last bracketology bubble watch. Where does each current non-locked team stand with regard to the Big Dance and what do they have to do to impress the committee at their conference tournaments?

As a quick overview, here are the categories for my bubble watch:

Bubble Watch Categories:

Lead-pipe lock: Sure-fire NCAA Tournament teams.

Some perspiration: Teams in this category are in pretty safe territory right now. As long as they stay the course, an at-large bid is in their future. They typically only need one win (in a game they are favored) at most to move to a lock.

Double the deodorant: These are the squads who would be sweating out Selection Sunday most if the tournament started today. They have work left to do to either remain in the projected field or work their way in.

Long Shots: These teams are not quite out of the at-large picture but need to make massive runs in their conference tournaments. For the most part, that means making the championship game and significantly boosting their resume along the way.

Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into the seventh and final edition of the 2020 bracketology bubble watch! This version of the bubble watch takes into account games played through Mar. 10th and the “Current Bracketology Placement” is based on the Bracket Matrix update from the same date.

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