Saturday Bubble Watch

Lots of interesting fallout from a handful of games.

• Virginia Tech (18-13, 10-8 ACC) got a huge win over Miami (FL) 77-62 in Blacksburg.  Miami had quietly slid onto the #1 Seed line in my latest projection.  Today's los3 may keep them from being able to return back there.  Short of a run to the ACC Tournament Title it was hard to imagine them holding that spot, but its doubtful now that even an ACC Title could salvage the damage done today.  The Bigger story is Virginia Tech.  After a 65-49 loss at Miami on February 17th,  the Hokies found themselves sitting at 13-13 overall and 3-8 in the ACC.  Since then the Hokies have rattled off 5 Straight victories including back to back wins over Pitt and Miami.  While it still isn't enough to get them in the field, the continued faltering of teams ahead of them on the bubble, and some potential juicy upset opportunities in the ACC Tournament give this team a chance to leap frog some teams and get them in position to have a shot at hearing their name called on Selection Sunday. 
• Wichita State, who I discussed in my previous post as being a very intriguing team to try and project made things very interesting today by losing in the Missouri Valley Confernence Semi-Final's to Northern Iowa.  Wichita State must now get in as an At-Large selection.  Without doing a full seed scrub again until tomorrow night when all game for the weekend are complete, I'm going to assume that they are now in the field as one of the 'Last 4 In'   What this means is that another team (Either N. Iowa or Evansville) will grab the Auto Bid for the MVC tomorrow, effectively shrinking the bubble by one spot.  For me, that means George Washington, who also lost today, falls out of the field.  Tomorrow's MVC Championship Winner could become our first Official 'Bid Thief' of this year's Field Selection process ... that is, if Wichita States  overall body of work is good enough to get them in as an At-Large.  Expect this to be one of the big discussion next Sunday when the field is announced, weather they get selected or not.
• Like Virginia Tech, another ACC Team is making a case for consideration that was out of the running just a couple weeks back.  Florida State knocked off Bubble Team Syracuse (1st 4 Byes), improving their record to 18-12 overall and 8-10 in the ACC.  Still a long shot but a couple of wins against Teams in the RPI top 50, which they could get in the ACCTournament and some help from teams ahead of them, and they could have a decent chance of a berth.
• Other Bubble Winners Today:  Florida.  That's it.  Everyone else in one of my 4 Bubble Groupings lost or did not play  ... including Alabama, LSU, VCU, Ohio State and Michigan.