NCAA Tournament women’s bubble watch: Virginia Tech, Ivy League and Fairfield
Princeton head coach Carla Berube calls a play for her team in the first half of a college basketball game against Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Bloomington, Ind., March 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
With a week left in the regular season for the four major conferences, those schools have their final few chances to get quality wins and avoid bubble-bursting losses.
Virginia Tech had lost three out of four games before beating California on Sunday. The Hokies have contests left at Boston College and Clemson and probably can’t afford to slip up in either of them to make the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA selection committee will have its second reveal of the top 16 teams on Thursday.
Bubble watch
George Mason at Saint Joseph’s, Sunday. Once again, two of the top teams in the Atlantic-10 meet with second place on the line. The Patriots have won 11 straight games and are 13-2 in the conference. The Hawks lost to first-place Richmond last Thursday and are 11-3 in the league.
Princeton at Harvard, Friday. The Tigers home loss to Columbia last week probably cost them a shot at an outright Ivy League championship. A win at the Crimson, who they lost to earlier in the season, would help strengthen chances at an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The league is still in the hunt for three NCAA Tournament bids. Harvard has the highest NET rating at 35. Columbia is at 42 and Princeton 49.
Key ratings
Fairfield: The Stags sit at 48th in the NET ratings and are 0-3 against top teams (Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2) this season. Fairfield most likely has the pressure of needing to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to make the NCAA Tournament.
UNLV: The Lady Rebels are right above Fairfield in the NET rating and also are winless in three games against top opponents. A conference loss to San Diego State and a non-conference defeat to Northwestern don’t help UNLV’s case for getting into the NCAAs as an at-large team.
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