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Bracketology 2020: Duke, Butler, Auburn among this week’s losers

By Andrew Dieckhoff

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: Vernon Carey Jr. #1 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after dunking against the Boston College Eagles during the first half of a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - DECEMBER 31: Vernon Carey Jr. #1 of the Duke Blue Devils reacts after dunking against the Boston College Eagles during the first half of a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on December 31, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 22: Big Blue, mascot for the Utah State Aggies, performs with Harry the Husky, mascot for the Washington Huskies in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
COLUMBUS, OHIO – MARCH 22: Big Blue, mascot for the Utah State Aggies, performs with Harry the Husky, mascot for the Washington Huskies in the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Nationwide Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Utah State

I wrote in detail about this game over at Mountain West Wire, so I won’t go into a lot of detail about how Utah State blew a 19-point lead with four minutes remaining against Boise State on Saturday. You probably already know about that.

These results are no longer outliers for the Aggies. They’re becoming the norm.

Utah State has been alternating wins and losses since Thanksgiving. The trend does not compute with the preseason projections for Craig Smith’s team, which was picked to win the league easily. With early wins over LSU and Florida in its pocket, the conference season was supposed to be the easy part for the Aggies.

Instead, after losses to Boise State, UNLV, and Air Force, they will be clawing to stay relevant in the at-large conversation. They will need a win over San Diego State to have any shot.

Saint Louis

The Billikens had Dayton on the ropes, but a Jalen Crutcher buzzer-beater lifted the Flyers past Saint Louis on Friday night. Though SLU remains near the top of the Atlantic 10, this win—which would have immediately been their best on the season—was right within their grasp.

Instead, Saint Louis remains rather undistinguished in a group of good teams behind Dayton in the A-10. They are right in the mix with squads like VCU, Richmond, Duquesne, and Rhode Island. Right now, the Billikens are slightly behind the rest of the pack, along with URI.

That said, the Atlantic 10 is notorious for upsets in its conference tournament. After all, that’s how the Billikens made it to the NCAA Tournament last year. After falling just short against the Flyers, that’s probably the most likely path back for Saint Louis.

BYU

Mark Pope’s team got the week started off right with a 93-70 win over San Diego. But even with the team looking well-oiled in the run-up to their tilt with top-ranked Gonzaga, BYU was no match for the Zags on Saturday.

A three-bid WCC has been a tough sell to the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee ever since the introduction of the American Athletic Conference. The Cougars do have some good wins over teams like Houston and Virginia Tech but wins over Utah State and UCLA don’t look nearly as good as they did when they happened.

That BYU hasn’t been able to get it done against Gonzaga or Saint Mary’s in conference play could be a deciding factor for the committee if it comes down to the Cougars and another power conference team that played a tougher league schedule.

Then again, both games came on the road. BYU hosts the Gaels on February 1 and the Zags on February 22. If they can win at least one of those two games—and avoid any other pitfalls in league play—the Cougars should probably be in. But they are dancing on a knife’s edge.

Next. Bracketology Winners. dark

Check back again next week for another installment of Bracketology Losers. In the meantime, here’s hoping your team can stay off of my list.

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