Bracketology 2024: Latest Bubble Watch of key teams in late February
By Joey Loose
Florida Atlantic (20-6) (NET: 29)
2-1 (Q1), 5-3 (Q2), 6-1 (Q3), 7-1 (Q4)
Florida Atlantic won the ESPN Events Invitational in Florida, though only their win against Texas A&M was Quad 1, though beating Butler and Virginia Tech wasn’t bad. Their thrilling win versus Arizona in late December was the other Quad 1 win and they haven’t exactly been swimming in chances to add to that total lately.
Obviously, the Quad 3 loss to Bryant and the Quad 4 loss to Florida Gulf Coast are horrible. The Owls have also picked up three Quad 2 road losses during AAC play despite being favored in all of their games, falling to Charlotte, UAB, and most recently South Florida.
Being down by 25 at South Florida certainly made Florida Atlantic’s position seem less secure, even if they made that loss much closer. The resume isn’t great all in all, though few teams can boast those kinds of nonconference wins, especially against the Wildcats. The Owls looks safe, but we’ll see how they handle SMU and Memphis this week.
Gonzaga (19-6) (NET: 23)
1-5 (Q1), 2-1 (Q2), 5-0 (Q3), 11-0 (Q4)
Unlike in previous years, Gonzaga couldn’t take advantage of their chances during nonconference play, with that lone Quad 1 win coming at Kentucky just a couple weeks ago. Their only two Quad 2 wins were against Syracuse in Hawaii and at home over San Francisco back in late January.
They’ve avoided bad losses, with a road upset at Santa Clara that lone Quad 2 defeat. Not winning against Connecticut, Purdue, and San Diego State back in nonconference play wasn’t horrific, but sitting two games back of Saint Mary’s isn’t ideal, especially after losing at home to the Gaels already.
Sitting in a much more precarious position than usual, it’s going to come down to the wire for the Bulldogs. They’ve played stronger in recent weeks, though they’ve totally outclassed most of their WCC rivals. They close the season at San Francisco and Saint Mary’s and both would be Quad 1 opportunities; two wins virtually stamps their ticket to the dance.