Lots of Bubble Teams Are Losing; Bad Nights for Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, and California

Wednesday night was the night for bubble teams to start losing games, giving hope to squads all over the country. Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, and California, all on the lower half of teams making it as at-larges in the last Bracket Brief, inching them closer to the "out" spots to make room for "ins". A bracketology look at those games and more ahead.

@West Virginia 91, Oklahoma 86 (OT): Oklahoma is safely in the tournament right now, and an overtime road loss to a far-off-the-bubble team is not that bad. But this is OU's worst (or second worst, behind full-strength LA Tech at home) loss of the season, coming at a time when the Sooners need to be preparing for the tough teams it has down the stretch. And no one would have thought it two weeks ago, but West Virginia is inching ever so closer to the bubble. A win on Saturday at Kansas, an extremely difficult task, would make WVU's name show up somewhere on the next Bracket Brief after the game.

@Vanderbilt 64, Tennessee 60: Tennessee is one of the most confusing teams in the nation. It has a very good Ken Pomeroy score of 24, yet it lost to UTEP, NC State (at home), Texas A&M (at home), and Vanderbilt. Those are four fairly bad losses that would keep many teams out of the tourney. But Tennessee has wins over Virginia, LSU, Arkansas, and Ole Miss keeping it afloat, as well as dominating performances against its really bad opponents. It is very hard to say where Tennessee will end up on Selection Sunday, but we know for sure they are down from where they were yesterday.

@Purdue 77, Minnesota 74 (3OT): And there goes Minnesota. The Gophers once looked strong against all the other Big Ten powerhouses, but Minnesota's last three games were losses to Nebraska, Northwestern, and Purdue. Inexcusable. The Gophers are throwing away all of the good they did their resume after beating Ohio State and Wisconsin. Without a major turnaround, and maybe an upset or two along the way, Minnesota is falling out of the bracket.

Stanford 80, @California 69: This game meant so much. Both teams are on the bubble, and California was a game ahead of Stanford in the Pac-12 standings. Not only that, but these two rivals hate each other. Cal has looked like the better team this year, especially after last weekend's win over Arizona. But Stanford manhandled the Bears tonight. These two teams are now in a 3-way tie for 3rd (with Colorado), and only a half-game behind UCLA for second. More importantly, though, is that they may flip positions in the bracket, where Cal is currently a #10 and Stanford a #12. In short, great win for Stanford, bad loss for Cal.

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Almost everything else went as expected on Wednesday night, save for how close some of these games were. San Diego State needed a major rally to win at Boise State, Pitt struggled mightily with Miami, and New Mexico and Gonzaga, in the nightcaps, barely beat their opponents, Portland and Wyoming, respectively.

A little extra on how devastating the loss was for Boise State. The Broncos were up huge throughout parts of the game, but San Diego State chipped away and got the win on a shot in the last 10 seconds. Boise State needed a win like this more than just about anyone in the country, having been sitting 1-8 spots outside of the bracket for a number of weeks in a row now. Things are dicey now for Boise State, who still has time for plenty of decent in-conference wins.

@Michigan 79, Nebraska 50
Saint Louis 65, Saint Joseph's 49
@Virginia 77, Boston College 67
Pittsburgh 59, @Miami (FL) 55 (OT)
@Delaware 67, Charleston 64
@George Washington 71, Duquesne 57
@Massachusetts 79, La Salle 67
@Richmond 64, Saint Bonaventure 62
@Toledo 83, Bowling Green 76
@Loyola (MD) 62, American 58 - AU loses first Patriot game, still one game up on Boston U
VMI 108, @Gardner-Webb 104 (4OT)
@Green Bay 81, UIC 70
Wichita State 65, Indiana State 58 - WSU wins last big test, undefeated season in sights
Louisville 77, @Houston 62
@Florida State 70, @Virginia Tech 50
San Diego State 67, @Boise State 65 - SDSU on track for #1 seed above Wichita State
@Colorado 68, Washington State 63
@Gonzaga 71, Portland 66
@New Mexico 66, Wyoming 61 (OT)

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Many eyes will be on Tucson as everyone wants to see how life is for Arizona without Brandon Ashley against an Oregon team that desperately needs a win. The best game of the night, though, is likely UConn at Cinci, as Cinci tries to extend its massive lead over the rest of the American, while the Huskies try to show that they are not the same team that went through that mid-season slump.

#8 Connecticut at #3 Cincinnati
#16 Robert Morris at LIU-Brooklyn
Rhode Island at #7 VCU
(LFI) #11 LSU at Georgia
Temple at #10 SMU
IUPUI at #13 North Dakota State
#14 Georgia State at Arkansas Little Rock
#16 Davidson at Samford
#11 Oregon at #1 Arizona
Penn State at #3 Michigan State
North Dakota at #16 Weber State
Tulsa at (FFO) Louisiana Tech
Murray State at #15 Belmont
Nichols State at #13 Stephen F. Austin
#14 New Mexico State at Idaho
Oregon State at #8 Arizona State
Santa Clara at (FFO) BYU
(NFO) Saint Mary's at Loyola Marymount
#14 UC Santa Barbara at Hawaii