Bracketology 2023: 8 teams in danger of sliding out of NCAA Tournament

Arizona State Sun Devils

The Sun Devils were at one point, 6-1 in Pac-12 play. They were ranked in the top-25 and had a win over Creighton, which has grown magically in the past month. ASU did have a home loss to Texas Southern at the beginning of the year, which remains a Quad 4 defeat. But as long as they kept winning in the conference, they would be fine.

The problem is that Arizona State couldn’t keep that up. It started with the home sweep by USC and UCLA, which was perfectly understandable. But following that up with losses at Washington and Washington State damaged the resume.

Ever since then, the Sun Devils have been around .500, including losses to both Oregon and Colorado. The biggest issue with them is that the metrics never loved them when they were at their peak, with a current NET ranking at 70. And a 7-6 record against Quad 1/2 opponents is fairly mediocre on the bubble.

What it ultimately comes down to for ASU is that they’ll have to beat either UCLA or Arizona in the next week. The Sun Devils will either get the signature win needed to get into the field or continue falling out of the bubble.