TourneyBubble began nearly four years ago when my friend Jon and I got sick of reading Andy Glockner's ESPN (now with Sports Illustrated's) Bubble Watch. Towards the end of the season (I believe it was the 07-08 year), Glockner stubbornly kept Dayton on his Bubble Watch whilst they sported a 5-9 Atlantic 10 record. True, they had two decent non-conference wins in November (Syracuse and someone else who didnt end up making the NCAA's) but I was sick of it. No more than one paragraph earlier, he was poo-pooing Virginia Tech's chances to make the tournament despite a winning record in the best conference in college basketball. Screw Glockner.
ESPN has moved on to Eamonn Brennan to lord over their bubble watch, and I tend to give him a little bit of a break because he writes about 150,000 words a week for them and probably doesnt have the time to put together a thorough Watch. But still, he's not immune from criticism. You're a professional college basketball writer.
I don't even look at other Watches before I start putting our bubble together. Usually, I won't even look at them outside of getting their stupid opinions on whether Virgina Tech will make the tournament or not. With that off the table this year, TourneyBubble is going to be going through these watches with a fine-toothed, mean-spirited comb.
Let's dissect and ridicule them, shall we?
The "Other at-Large Candidates" is a bit of a joke at this point, since it lumps WCC, Conference USA and Missouri Valley teams into one seemingly insignificant "Others" category.
And while they're not included here at the moment, keep an eye on Oral Roberts...They may be joining the Watch in editions to come.
What?? Why aren't they on the watch right freaking now? Oral Roberts is 20-4 and has won 13 games in a row, has a top 50 RPI (49) and slaughtered Xavier at Xavier (albeit a depleted Xavier team). Three of their four losses were on the road to top-70 foes. They're a legitimate at-large candidate right now, moron.
And then he tells us to keep an eye on the
CAA trio of George Mason, Drexel and VCU, to name a few.
Oh, the George Mason team with an RPI of 102, a pathetic strength of schedule (280) and a loss to Florida International? Drexel with an RPI of 90, a loss to Delaware and one top-100 win? And RPI #84 VCU, with all of two top-100 wins and a 217 strength of schedule? Guess what, buddy - the CAA blows this year and winning it (even going away) won't mean jack squat. And it also wont mean jack squat to their RPI's because the rest of the league sucks too. Any of these teams would be lucky to get a 13-seed in the tournament. None of these teams will be at-large contenders.
On to SI's Andy Glockner who curiously - I'm sorry, stupidly - does not have undefeated, 9th-ranked Murray State as a lock for the tournament. Jesus H, dude. With wins at Memphis, vs. Dayton and vs. Southern Mississippi, they have quality wins to fall back on. He even implies that they have to win against St. Mary's to "solidify" their weak league profile. Apparently in Glockner Land winning every single one of your games, some against legit NCAA at-large teams, isn't enough to punch your ticket to the Dance. Still a moron after so many years.
