With just over 40 days remaining until Selection Sunday, bracketology season is officially in full swing. Several teams have already all but secured a spot in the Field of 68, while many others still have plenty of work to do. Games now matter more than ever and that is especially the case for teams that are on or around the bubble.
You never know what to expect from life on the bubble, but at this point of the season teams still have opportunities to control their own destiny rather than relying on help from others. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the biggest winners and losers on the bubble from this past week.
Winner: Indiana Hoosiers
No team had a better week than Darian DeVries’ Indiana Hoosiers who picked up a rivalry win over highly ranked Purdue on Tuesday and followed it up with a massive double-overtime road victory against fellow bubble team UCLA. After dropping four straight, Indiana has now won three in a row and put itself on the right side of the bubble. The Hoosiers will have two more opportunities to pick quality wins this week as they’ll stay out west to take on USC before returning home to host Wisconsin at Assembly Hall.
Loser: Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State has hovered around the bubble for most of the season, and a double-digit loss at Wisconsin this past weekend did not help. The Buckeyes have taken care of business in the games they were expected to win, but they still lack that true signature victory over a highly ranked opponent. They will have plenty of chances to get just that with remaining matchups against Virginia, Michigan State, Purdue, and a meeting at home with Michigan this Sunday. With several Big Ten teams in a similar boat around the bubble, every remaining game matters for Jake Diebler’s team, but the season finale against Indiana is certainly one to keep an eye on now.
Winner: Wisconsin Badgers
On the other side of that Ohio State loss was a massive win for a Wisconsin team that has found its groove after a rocky start to the season. Greg Gard’s group also picked up a victory over Minnesota this past week, improving to seven wins in their last eight games. While Wisconsin has faced a lighter slate of Big Ten opponents recently, a challenging run is ahead with upcoming matchups against Indiana, Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Iowa. In addition, Wisconsin has the crown jewel victory over Michigan in a game that was a turning point in the season for this team and is by far the most impressive win on any bubble team's resume.
Loser: Miami Hurricanes
Miami hosted the west coast ACC teams this past week and got a win over Stanford, but lost to Cal as double-digit favorites. With Cal also sitting near the bubble, that defeat especially hurt. The Hurricanes put themselves in a good spot early in Jai Lucas’ first season, performing well in non-conference play and going on a 10-game win streak from late November through early January. However, quality wins are hard to find on their resume and they have now dropped three of their last five games, which includes a bad Quad 3 loss to Florida State. It doesn’t help playing in an ACC that is down this year with several games against conference opponents where wins don’t help much, but losses can be devastating.
Loser: Georgia Bulldogs
The Bulldogs are looking to make back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 2001-02, but a rough close to January is not helping that case. Not long ago, Georgia looked like a sure thing to make the field at 14-2, but they’ve now dropped three straight games, including embarrassing losses by 20 points at Texas and by 15 at home against Texas A&M on Saturday. Georgia will now get a week off before facing LSU in what feels like a must-win get right spot. As things currently stand the Bulldogs should be in, but with numerous SEC teams clustered between the No. 4 and No. 10 seed lines, they cannot afford any bad slip-ups and will need to protect their home court down the stretch.