It’s been a strong past week for certain teams in college basketball, with several getting massive victories to enhance their respective Bracketology resumes. The following are four teams who had the best week in terms of resume-building.
Ohio State Buckeyes
After losing by double-digits at Iowa, Ohio State was running out of options to get a signature win. But on Sunday, they managed to pull off an 82-74 win over Purdue, a Quad 1 win they badly needed. Yes, the Buckeyes have a record of 6-11 against Quad 1/2 opponents combined but the overall metrics are still nice and they now have a signature win to lean back on. If they beat Indiana and Penn State coming up, they should feel good about making the Big Dance.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
The Red Raiders aren’t in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, but their protected seeding is in jeopardy after losing their star forward JT Toppin for the season. However, they’ve won their last three games, including an 82-73 road win over Iowa State. It’s the kind of win that can vault Texas Tech to a 3 seed and, more importantly, show that it doesn’t need to get docked a seed without Toppin available going forward.
Missouri Tigers
Just in case there was any question as to whether Missouri was on the true bubble, they got another signature win, 73-68 over Tennessee. And after avoiding the Mississippi State road landmine last week, the Tigers should be safely into the field and now have a chance to get away from the 8-9 seed range if they defeat Arkansas in the regular season finale.
Saint Mary’s Gaels
There aren’t many opportunities for the Gaels to get big wins to solidify their spot in the NCAA Tournament. But this past week, they got two of their biggest wins of the season, beating Santa Clara at home, followed by beating Gonzaga for a massive signature win. While Saint Mary’s is 1-3 overall against Quad 1 opponents, that 8-1 record against Quad 2 foes will be good enough to get them into the Dance.