The USC Trojans continue to get a lot of help on the NCAA Tournament bubble. They want a world in which other competitors across the country continue to fail to nail down tournament berths. If USC does lose its first game at the Pac-12 Tournament, these other failures give the Trojans more of a cushion and a greater margin for error.
The vast majority of bubble results across the country this past week have broken in USC’s direction. The Trojans just need a few more of these situations to bend the right way — on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, maybe Saturday — and they’ll be in the field of 68 even if they do lose their Pac-12 quarterfinal on Thursday night. That’s what this is all about.
The latest good bubble break for USC came on Sunday afternoon: Indiana, which led Michigan by 12 and then trailed the Wolverines by 12, roared back late to force overtime and then win in the extra period. Indiana missed four free throws in the final minute of overtime, but Michigan couldn’t take advantage, turning the ball over with two seconds left and falling 75-73.
Michigan has played three consecutive overtime games and lost two of them. That’s how small the margins are, but Michigan has been on the wrong side. Now the Wolverines head to the Big Ten Tournament. They face Rutgers in the second round on Thursday in what will be a “loser out” bubble game. Michigan probably won’t be in with a win. It will keep itself in the hunt, but it probably will need a second win at the Big Ten Tournament, and that second win must come against top-seeded Purdue in a potential quarterfinal on Friday.
Yep, Michigan probably needs to beat the Big Ten champion and a top-10 team to get in.
USC has to be loving that.
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