Bracketology 2020: Rhode Island, BYU and Auburn among biggest winners

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 05: Jordan Ford #30 of the Saint Mary's Gaels guards TJ Haws #30 of the Brigham Young Cougars during a semifinal game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 5, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Cougars won 85-72. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

2 of 6

HONOLULU, HI – DECEMBER 23: Martins Igbanu #1 of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

Tulsa Golden Hurricanes – 15-6 (7-1 in AAC)

We’re going to have to take the Golden Hurricanes seriously as an at-large contender. They were completely left for dead after the non-conference, losing games to Colorado State, Arkansas State and Texas-Arlington. Tulsa had no strong wins of note and after losing by 31 points to Cincinnati in the first week of AAC play, there was no real reason to care about this team. They would’ve had to win every game afterward to even get near the bubble.

And that’s exactly what they have done.

Starting with the home upset of Houston, Tulsa has since won six straight games. This past week though is was has put them on national notice. Starting with the overtime road win at UConn on Sunday, the Golden Hurricanes followed that up with an impressive win at home over No. 23 Wichita State. Elijah Joiner had the game-winning three-point as time expired, part of his game-high 22 points. Buoyed by the AAC’s top scoring defense since the start of conference play, the Golden Hurricanes are now building an NCAA Tournament resume to at least consider.

They still have plenty of work to do though. The AAC isn’t the strongest league this season and wins over Houston, Wichita State and Memphis can only go so far. And due to the losses from the non-conference, what’s happened thus far for Tulsa has only brought them back to the surface. They still have to keep on winning, while avoiding bad losses coming up in the next couple of weeks. Tulsa is still a longshot when it comes to getting an at-large bid but their AAC performances are forcing Bracketologists to give them a new look this week.

Home/Bracketology