Running through Wednesday night's relevant games for bubble watchers ...
* Wisconsin at Michigan, 6:30. The Wolverines have won six of eight, but swept Iowa and upended Indiana in that span. The Badgers are 0-5 on the road against the top 65 in the RPI (yes, that's some statistical cherrypicking). Michigan can claim some relevance if it can knock off the Badgers.
* DePaul at St. John's, 7. The Red Storm is a tournament team barring an epic collapse. Beating DePaul should extinguish any chance of that happening for a team with six top-25 victories.
* Miami at Boston College, 7. The final two weeks of the regular season is manageable for the Eagles. But if they don't manage it (starting with this visit from the Hurricanes)? Things could be dicey in Chestnut Hill in a hurry.
* VCU at Drexel, 7. VCU won the first meeting 52-48 in Richmond. Collecting the return trip to Philly at least keeps the Rams in the discussion for an at-large, even if their profile isn't particularly great.
* Auburn at Alabama, 8. The Crimson Tide gains nothing from winning this game (besides some rivalry-related boasting) and gets destroyed as a remotely viable at-large possibility with a loss.
* Colorado State at Brigham Young, 8. The Rams still have to visit San Diego State as well, and lost to both of the Mountain West powers in Fort Collins earlier in the season. They would be well-served to snag one of the two ... though few teams come out of Provo with a victory. This will be a tough task.
* Creighton at Wichita State, 8:05; Southern Illinois at Missouri State, 8:05. Noted simply because both Valley contenders (Wichita State and Missouri State) don't have much margin for error in the at-large race --- and even then, they're both dicey.
* Baylor at Missouri, 9. The Bears have a chance to nudge their way into the discussion with a closing stretch that offers opportunities for decent victories (Missouri, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Texas). This is also a team with losses to Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.
* Cincinnati at Georgetown, 9. The Bearcats simply need to avoid a free fall, but a home-and-home with Georgetown and dates with Connecticut and Marquette remain. It's worth keeping an eye on.
* Kansas State at Nebraska, 9. Yes, there's meaningful late February basketball for the home team in Lincoln. It's important for both teams, but Nebraska has a bit more work ahead of it if it is going to escape a date in the NIT.
* Florida State at Maryland, 9. The Seminoles face their first truly tricky game since losing Chris Singleton. The undistinguished Terps could knock off a top-50 opponent tonight, but doing so would knock Florida State out of the top 50. As much of a conundrum as that is, Maryland simply can't afford many more losses in the regular season if it doesn't want the ACC tournament to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
Comments