Bracketology Losers: Syracuse, Texas and St. John’s suffer setbacks

San Francisco Dons

It’s incredibly unfair to put a team in a “losers” list for falling to beat a top-5 team. However, the circumstances behind that warranted the Dons to make this. It’s more to do with how difficult it already is for mid-major programs to get at-large bids these days, and few has the chance at a crack at a top-5 team at home in conference play.

San Francisco gave Gonzaga everything and more on Saturday, having a two-point lead at the under four-minute mark. Unfortunately for them, the Bulldogs prevailed at the end, leaving the Dons their third loss on the season.

The Dons are in an unusual place, right on the bubble at 14-3 (2-1). They have wins over Harvard, Cal, Saint Mary’s and Stanford and has no bad losses, with UC Santa Barbara currently at 13-3 (2-0) from the Big West. From an eye test perspective, San Francisco has impressed many, becoming that sentimental mid-major favorite to get an at-large bid on Selection Sunday.

But that will be a hard road for the Dons. While they are improved, they’re still vulnerable to losses in the WCC, evidently by barely surviving Pepperdine. The question will be how many defeats the team can take outside of Gonzaga to still warrant a bid. San Francisco does have a return game at Gonzaga, but winning there is very tough for any team not named BYU or Saint Mary’s.

That’s why the Dons coming up short is such a painful one for them, as they were just a few minutes away from getting that signature win. While the power conference teams on this list will have plenty of chances at quality wins and not many bad losses, it’s the opposite for the WCC team right on the bubble. Let’s see how they do in the next five games before coming to Spokane.