Bubble-shrinking Friday

And, perhaps, Saturday and Sunday could turn into bubble shrinking days as well.

So much happened yesterday that I don't know where to start. But I will start with a couple of the definite games that watched a couple of spots get eaten up from the at-large pool. In the WAC, Nevada lost again to Utah State, meaning that the Aggies will take on....the Aggies (of New Mexico State) for the auto bid. The game is on NMSU's home floor, where they haven't lost this season, and I would be shocked if Utah State pulled this one out. Nevada's definitely in, but these two losses in about a two-week span may drop their seeding a couple of lines.

George Washington and Rhode Island will play for a dance ticket after the Rams beat Xavier, who is on rockier footing than Nevada, but should still be in.

Yesterday also brought us a few bubble teams capitalizing on their opportunities in their respective conference tournaments.

Kansas State put a defensive beatdown on Texas Tech in a 66-45 win. I have no doubt that the committee was saying to themselves yesterday afternoon, "That's quite a statement." I feel that they should be in now. However, I felt Florida State would be in after beating Clemson Thursday afternoon, and after the uninspired performance against UNC, nothing could be farther from the truth. In short, if the Wildcats stay in the game today against Kansas and don't get blown out, they should be fine.

Purdue slapped Iowa in a similar matter in the Big Ten, and Illinois beat Indiana. If I was on the committee, I would surely have Purdue in right now, and Illinois still out. However, I'm not on the committee (obviously) and I feel that if the Illini don't get thrashed by Wisconsin today that the group of ten will pick them.

The bubble could shrink further in the next 30 hours after NC State has made a surprise run to the ACC semis, one of Arkansas or Mississippi State will play for a Sunday SEC bid, Oklahoma State is in the Big 12 semis after beating an offensively stagnant Texas A&M team. Also, let's not forget that Houston could beat Memphis and take a bid away in the C-USA title game. Will all four of these conferences turn up surprise auto bid winners? Probably not. But could one or two? Don't be surprised.

Today is also my day of marathon blogging starting up in about an hour and a half and not ending until the Big West crowns a champion around 1 am eastern time. Nineteen games will be played today, 17 on national TV, and 11 of which will punch dance tickets. Today is also the the day where so many of the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, ranging from mid-major conference bids to major conference seedings to be officially determined tomorrow.