Bracketology 2024: Latest Bubble Watch of key teams in late February
By Joey Loose
Texas A&M (15-10) (NET: 45)
6-5 (Q1), 2-1 (Q2), 2-4 (Q3), 5-0 (Q4)
Yes the Aggies have already accumulated six Quad 1 wins, including road contests at Ohio State and SMU very early in the season. They’ve added to that total with nice wins over Iowa State, Kentucky, Florida, and Tennessee, beating the Volunteers by 16 just a week and a half ago.
Obviously, what’s bringing down the Aggies’ resume is four Quad 3 losses, most recently at Vanderbilt last week. They’ve also lost at Arkansas and at home against LSU and Memphis, meaning the Aggies have quite the balance between these nice wins and unfortunate losses.
Coming off losses to Vanderbilt and Alabama last week it’s clear that the Aggies have work to do yet this season. The record isn’t great and the NET could be better but those wins help put them in this position. Can they claim another impressive win or two in the final weeks of the season?
Utah (16-10) (NET: 50)
3-5 (Q1), 5-4 (Q2), 3-1 (Q3), 5-0 (Q4)
A resume that looked great a month ago features Quad 1 wins against Wake Forest, Saint Mary’s, and BYU back in nonconference play. The Utes really set themselves up nicely, though they’ve only been able to add Quad 2 wins to that resume during Pac-12 play, most recently against Colorado and UCLA.
On the other hand, the Quad 3 loss came recently at home against Arizona State, completely a devastating season sweep at the hands of those Sun Devils. Those Quad 2 losses aren’t too devastating by themselves, though the Utes would much rather have not lost to Stanford or St. John’s earlier in the year.
Winners of just two of their last seven games, Utah has seen their at-large chances gradually diminish more and more with each passing week. They salvaged their chances at the Big Dance with that clutch win at UCLA on Sunday but this resume needs a lot of work, starting with a road game at Colorado this weekend.