Busting Brackets
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Bracketology Bubble Watch: Where do fringe tournament teams stand?

By Lukas Harkins

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: A general view of the court with March Madness signage is seen prior to the start of the game between the OklahomaSooners and the Rhode Island Rams in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: A general view of the court with March Madness signage is seen prior to the start of the game between the OklahomaSooners and the Rhode Island Rams in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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DAYTON, OH – NOVEMBER 30: Landers #3 of the Dayton Flyers reacts. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OH – NOVEMBER 30: Landers #3 of the Dayton Flyers reacts. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Atlantic 10 Conference

Lead-pipe lock: None.

Firmly in the field: None.

Some perspiration: None.

Double the deodorant: VCU (11), Dayton (OUT), Davidson (OUT)

VCU Rams (14-6, 5-2 A10)

NET: 53 | KPI: 43 | SOR: 52 | BPI: 59 | KP: 54 | Sag: 67

Q1: 1-3 | Q2: 2-2 | Q3: 4-1 | Q4: 7-0 

VCU casually went about its business during this past week by taking down an underrated Duquesne team on the road. And while this might not have bolstered their NCAA Tournament profile all that much, it always helps to win while everyone else is losing. VCU moved up in just about every metric over the past seven days and still owns a relatively solid resume. If there was one issue that occurred this week, it would be that two of VCU’s wins fell from Q3 to Q4 and that is a bit concerning as the team is now just 7-6 in Q1/2/3 games.

Dayton Flyers (14-7, 6-2 A10)

NET: 93 | KPI: 100 | SOR: 79 | BPI: 60 | KP: 69 | Sag: 80

Q1: 0-5 | Q2: 1-1 | Q3: 2-1 | Q4: 11-0 

Dayton is definitely a longshot to reach the NCAA Tournament. Despite a strong record, the team just does not have the quality wins needed nor are their predictive metrics tremendously strong. The Flyers have a long way to go if they want to reach the Big Dance but I think they are the most under-the-radar team from the Atlantic 10. They have seemingly flown (you see what I did there) throughout this season without garnering any major attention even with a strong record. They are a sneaky team that could land the auto-bid if they do not catch fire for an at-large.

Davidson Wildcats (15-5, 6-1 A10)

NET: 67 | KPI: 49 | SOR: 56 | BPI: 85 | KP: 83 | Sag: 75

Q1: 0-2 | Q2: 3-1 | Q3: 5-2 | Q4: 6-0

Davidson handled its business over the past week by landing victories over George Washington (home) and Saint Louis (away). This pushed their in-conference record to 6-1 and they could easily be the favorites to win the A10 crown at this point in time. Head coach Bob McKillop is never someone that I want to bet against and the Wildcats are still right in the bubble hunt. In order to dance, though, they might need to start really beating up on the lower-level teams in the conference in order to boost their rankings in the NET and quality metrics. Efficiency margin is not capped…

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