Bracketology 2024: Latest Bubble Watch of key teams in late February

Grand Canyon (23-2) (NET: 48)
1-0 (Q1), 2-2 (Q2), 7-0 (Q3), 13-0 (Q4)

Yes, the Antelopes haven’t exactly had a lot of chances to impress, but they did win their only Quad 1 game of the season, a home game against San Diego State back in early December. They won Quad 2 games against San Francisco and at Liberty but haven’t exactly had opportunities to improve this resume during WAC play.

Neither loss was horrific, though their resume would look better had they not lost at Seattle last month. It’s still just a Quad 2 defeat, as was their loss in Glendale to South Carolina long before we know how good the Gamecocks would be this season.

Realistically, Grand Canyon’s shot at the NCAA Tournament comes via the WAC Tournament, but there’s a small sliver of hope if they falter. They clearly need to win out in the regular season and lose the title game to Seattle, the only other WAC team whose NET is above 140.

Indiana State (21-5) (NET: 32)
1-3 (Q1), 3-1 (Q2), 8-0 (Q3), 9-1 (Q4)

The Sycamores’ lone Quad 1 win came at Bradley back at the beginning of January, with every chance to make a notable impression coming on the road this season. They have since added Quad 2 wins against Drake and Northern Iowa while completing a sweep of the Braves but don’t exactly have wow-factor wins here.

Coming into this week, Indiana State looked like an at-large team if things went south in the MVC. Well, things went south, including a mind-boggling Quad 4 home loss to Illinois State that really tanks their outlook and resume. Adding their first Quad 2 loss at Southern Illinois four days later didn’t help.

It’s far too early to say MVC Tournament or bust, but it really looks like this will be a 1-bid league. The Sycamores have great metrics and have played awesome basketball for much of the season, but really lack any notable wins. They just didn’t have the impactful nonconference slate that they needed.