Bracketology Bubble Watch: Analyzing cutline as Selection Sunday nears

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STANFORD, CA – FEBRUARY 01: Stanford Cardinal react. (Photo by Bob Drebin/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /

Lead-Pipe Locks: Oregon, Colorado, Arizona

Some perspiration: USC, Arizona State.

Double the deodorant: Stanford, UCLA

Long Shots: None.

USC Trojans (22-9, NET: 43)

Bracketology Average: IN (99.3% of brackets) – 9.05 seed.

USC’s efficiency metrics (BPI/KP/SAG: 55.0) are still not the greatest but the rest of the team’s resume puts them in safe positioning to reach the NCAA Tournament. Considering the Trojans will likely face Arizona in their first Pac-12 Tournament game, there shouldn’t be any cause for concern here. If USC draws Washington and loses, then fans are start to sweat a bit more…but this team should still be safe.

Arizona State Sun Devils (20-11, NET: 52)

Bracketology Average: IN (94.5% of brackets) – 9.98 seed.

Basically the exact same thing I said about USC applies for Arizona State as well. Just change “Arizona” to “Colorado” and “Washington” to “Washington State”. No reason to worry for head coach Bobby Hurley’s team, in my opinion.

Stanford Cardinal (20-11, NET: 30)

Bracketology Average: IN (81.4% of brackets) – 11.00 seed.

Stanford is one of the teams hovering closest to the cutline right now but most bracketologists lean in favor of it being in the field. The Cardinals went through a very rough stretch of play for a while but appear to have stabilized a bit. Winning two games in the Pac-12 Tournament should put them in good shape to hear their name called on Selection Sunday. That means advancing past California and UCLA in back-to-back days. That is a winnable path to the semifinals.

UCLA Bruins (18-12, NET: 76)

Bracketology Average: OUT (38.6% of brackets)

Even though UCLA is the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament (higher than ASU, Zona, Colorado, USC, and Stanford), it has the most work to do of any bubble team in the conference. The Bruins are on the outside-looking-in at the moment despite boasting plenty of high-quality wins. In order to move onto the right side of the cutline, UCLA probably needs two wins in the P12 Tournament, which likely means having to take down two teams currently ahead of them in bracket projections.

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