It’s the middle of February, four weeks from Selection Sunday. Bubble talk will be part of our lives for the next month. When we discuss the bubble, we have to keep one thing in mind: This is a study of moving parts.
Yes, there’s no question that USC significantly hurt its position with the loss to Oregon State.
USC could have had a smooth ride. Now the journey becomes a lot more bumpy and dangerous. That much we know for sure.
Whether that loss will ultimately bounce USC from the tournament is up in the air, because other teams need to take advantage of USC’s fall to fill in the Trojans’ spot and displace them.
On Saturday, hardly any bubble teams did.
Start with Oregon, which lost to UCLA and is still behind USC in the overall bubble pecking order.
USC’s position deteriorated, but the Trojans are still first in line among the Pac-12 bubble teams, albeit by a small margin. If it comes down to USC and Oregon for the last spot in the field, it’s still advantage USC right now.
Kentucky lost to Georgia. The Wildcats are not in a better position than USC. They might be relatively even, but they’re clearly not ahead of the Trojans.
Utah State lost at San Jose State.
Clemson lost to North Carolina, which helps the Tar Heels but hurts the Tigers.
Arkansas lost at home to Mississippi State.
One by one, bubble teams failed and faltered, not just USC.
Someone has to fill all 36 at-large slots in the 68-team tournament. The Trojans should be very annoyed that they didn’t solidify their spot. They would have gained ground on the whole field with a win at Oregon State. However, they at least didn’t see other bubble teams vault past them. Hardly any of them did.
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