Busting Brackets
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NCAA Basketball: How the games this weekend will affect March Madness

By Jonathan Goehring

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 3: The Texas Longhorns bench reacts as the Texas Longhorns defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 87-79 in overtime at the Frank Erwin Center on March 3, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 3: The Texas Longhorns bench reacts as the Texas Longhorns defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 87-79 in overtime at the Frank Erwin Center on March 3, 2018 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 03: Gyorgy Goloman
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 03: Gyorgy Goloman /

After a full weekend of college basketball, the bubble looks much different. It is safe to say that March Madness has already begun.

In the midst of a confusing mix of the final week of regular season play and conference tournaments in college basketball, this weekend helped shape the NCAA tournament field.

Specifically when it comes to the bubble, changes to the field of 68 are happening rapidly. With each game teams on the verge of earning an automatic bid play, bracketologists such as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi are changing the way their projected bracket looks.

Many questions remain unanswered, such as whether or not the selection committee will value performance in conference tournaments more than the average regular season game. If this is the case, a team like Penn State who was able to knock off Ohio State and compete with Purdue in the Big Ten conference tournament would get a major boost from the weekend’s action. Unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, it appears to be too little too late, but the concept applies in other cases.

Besides conference tournaments, the final week of regular season play for the Big 12, Pac 12, and ACC has a lot riding on it. While some of the country’s top teams are competing for higher seeding, some schools are in desperate need of a win just to be considered as an at large bid in the field of 68.

With so much going on, we selected the most notable results from this weekend that impacted how the bubble looks. Here are five takeaways.

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