Bracketology 2020: Utah State, Rutgers and Wisconsin among big winners

Bracketology 2020: Utah State, Rutgers and Wisconsin among biggest winners

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 07: The Utah State Aggies celebrate after defeating the San Diego State Aztecs to win the championship game of the Mountain West Conference basketball tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center on March 7, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Aggies defeated the Aztecs 59-56. (Photo by Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images) /

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FAYETTEVILLE, AR – JANUARY 15: Maxwell Evans #3 of the Vanderbilt Commodores (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /

Vanderbilt doing the dirty work for bubble teams

When you’re on the bubble at this point in the season, of course, you’re rooting for others in the same position to fail. However, not all losses are viewed as equal. For example. Richmond losing to Dayton is nowhere near the same as VCU falling to George Washington. So the best-case scenario is teams losing to those at the bottom of their respective leagues to fall back in the bubble.

Outside of Kentucky, Auburn and LSU, the entire middle of the SEC is on the bubble. Florida is probably safe regardless of what happens in the conference tournament but teams such as Mississippi State, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama have plenty of work to do in the next week to make the Big Dance.

Well, as for the Crimson Tide and Gamecocks, they each may have to win the entire event. That’s because both of them fell this week to Vanderbilt, who coming into the week had a 1-15 record in the SEC and had lost 16 of 17 games overall. Yet the Commodores pulled off the back-to-back wins, giving both teams an awful loss neither could afford. There were a number of teams on the bubble who lost a game this week but none of them were on the level of Vandy, who singlehandedly limited the number of potential bids that the SEC can get now.

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