Busting Brackets
Fansided

Bracketology Losers: Temple, Utah State and Virginia Tech falls this week

By Tristan Freeman

BLACKSBURG, VA - DECEMBER 05: Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Buzz Williams reacts in the first half of the game against the VMI Keydets at Cassell Coliseum on December 5, 2018 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Lauren Rakes/Getty Images)
BLACKSBURG, VA - DECEMBER 05: Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Buzz Williams reacts in the first half of the game against the VMI Keydets at Cassell Coliseum on December 5, 2018 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Lauren Rakes/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 6
Next
TUCSON, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 07: Head coach Sean Miller of the Arizona Wildcats reacts during the second half of the NCAAB game against the Washington Huskies at McKale Center on February 07, 2019 in Tucson, Arizona. The Huskies defeated the Wildcats 67-60. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TUCSON, ARIZONA – FEBRUARY 07: Head coach Sean Miller of the Arizona Wildcats reacts during the second half of the NCAAB game against the Washington Huskies at McKale Center on February 07, 2019 in Tucson, Arizona. The Huskies defeated the Wildcats 67-60. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Arizona and Arizona State

Gonzaga wasn’t the only school in the state of Washington to essentially cause their respective conference to be a one-bid league. Washington State was 8-14 (1-8) entering last week and is one of the worst power conference programs in the country. Then they traveled on the road to face two of the best teams in the Pac-12 in Arizona and Arizona State.

They were supposed to be easy wins for the two schools who desperately needed to avoid this bad loss. But the Cougars handily won both games by a combined 35 points, tripling their number of conference wins.

For Arizona, the loss on Saturday was the proverbial nail in the coffin for their at-large hopes. The Wildcats have now lost five straight and still have four road games left in the regular season, including the infamous Utah-Colorado trip within a week. They’ll need to win five straight just to even get back on the bubble.

Arizona State is a bit of a different story thanks to their non-conference wins over Mississippi State and Kansas. The problem is that they’ve had a number of bad losses, including Vanderbilt, Princeton, and now Washington State. The Sun Devils would’ve been on the wrong side of the bubble had it not been the turnaround win over Washington, the Pac-12 leader.

At this point, the Huskies are the only team that represents a good victory from the conference. And even then, a pair of losses from them would drop Washington to a bubble team as well. What won’t change is the fact that Washington State will remain a bad loss, one that may sink the Sun Devils unless they can go on a run in the Pac-12.

Home/Bracketology