Bracketology 2024: South Carolina, Richmond and TCU among week's biggest winners

Washington State Cougars

To start Pac-12 play, Washington State lost to both Colorado and Utah on the road in the annual brutal road trip. This past week, they got revenge, beating both bubble teams by a combined 41 points to get a pair of Quad 2 wins to move to 6-5 against the top two quads.

More importantly, the Cougars got their NET ranking moved up to 40 to start the week to get them squarely on the bubble. They have the signature victory over Arizona to hold onto but they need to survive this three-game road trip to remain on the bubble. A key matchup with Washington on the road awaits them.

Iowa State Cyclones

When talking about the “top” teams in the Big 12, Kansas, Houston, and Baylor are the usual suspects. But Iowa State earns a spot there, tied for second in the standings and coming off three straight wins. The last two came against the Kansas schools, including a home victory over the Jayhawks last weekend for another Quad 1 victory.

Now, the Cyclones have a 6-4 record against Quad 1/2 opponents, along with not a single bad loss and a top-10 NET ranking. Despite having a fairly weak non-conference SOS, this team has looked every bit of a top-tier team and the quality wins are following. They have two road games up next in Baylor and Texas and a split would be just fine for them to make a case for a top-4 seed.