Punching The Ticket: A Marathon Saturday Awaits Comment Count

Ace



Michigan could use a little help from Penn State. [Bryan Fuller]

Before digging into the current bracket projections, let's look at how the games listed in Monday's Punching The Ticket (and a couple I forgot to include) turned out. Michigan wanted the teams in bold to win.

  • UNC beat Syracuse
  • Kansas beat Texas.
  • Kentucky beat Florida
  • Vanderbilt beat Tennessee
  • George Washington beat George Mason
  • St. Mary's beat Grand Canyon
  • Virginia Tech beat Pitt
  • VCU beat Davidson
  • Butler beat Seton Hall
  • Arkansas beat Alabama
  • NC State beat Boston College
  • Providence beat Creighton
  • USC beat Oregon State

It's a mixed bag, as these tend to be, but two SEC squads—Florida and Alabama—are on the wrong side of the bubble after losses this week.

Michigan's resumé as it currently stands:

Record: 20-10 (19-10 vs. D-I), 10-7 Big Ten

RPI: 57

KenPom: 49

RPI Strength of Schedule: 68

KP SOS: 53

RPI Top-50: 3-8

RPI 51-100: 0-2

RPI 101+: 16-0

Penn State remains just outside the RPI top-100 cut at #105, but they've got a good chance to finish strong and give Michigan a pair of quality wins in the process; the Nittany Lions finish the regular season with home games against Northwestern and Illinois. NC State didn't exactly cover themselves in glory with a one-point victory over winless-in-the-ACC Boston College; they still remain in striking distance at #115. The Wolfpack breaking into the top 100 would give Michigan another quality win. Yes, I still realize the top-100 cutoff is stupid and arbitrary, but that's how it works.

Not that this is a surprise since Michigan hasn't yet this week, but the Wolverines' standing in projected brackets remains relatively unchanged. ESPN and CBS still have them in a play-in game as one of the final four at-large teams to make the field; Yahoo still has them as an 11-seed narrowly avoiding a First Four game. While Michigan is one of the last four at-large teams on the Bracket Matrix, they're included in 94 of the 108 brackets. A victory over Iowa on Saturday night would almost certainly lock up a spot.

Here are your rooting interests for this weekend. You want the teams in bold; teams in italics are on the bubble; other games are included for RPI purposes:

  • Memphis at Temple (tonight, 7 pm, ESPNU)
  • Georgia at South Carolina (tonight, 7 pm, ESPN2)
  • UConn at SMU (tonight, 9 pm, ESPN2)
  • Cincinnati at Houston (tonight, 9 pm, CBSSports)
  • Northwestern at Penn State (tonight, 9 pm, ESPNU)
  • Yale at Cornell (Friday, 6 pm)
  • Princeton at Harvard (Friday, 7 pm, ESPN3)
  • Vanderbilt at Texas A&M (Saturday, noon, ESPN2)
  • NC State at Notre Dame (Saturday, noon, CBS)
  • Ohio State at Michigan State (Saturday, noon, ESPN)
  • Providence at St. John's (Saturday, 12:30 pm, FS1)
  • Syracuse at Florida State (Saturday, 2 pm, ESPN2)
  • Pitt at Georgia Tech (Saturday, 2 pm)
  • Marquette at Butler (Saturday, 2:30 pm, Fox/FSN)
  • Creighton at Xavier (Saturday, 2:30 pm, Fox)
  • Kansas State at Texas Tech (Saturday, 3 pm, ESPNews)
  • George Washington at Davidson (Saturday, 3:30 pm, NBCSports)
  • Alabama at Georgia (Saturday, 4 pm, ESPN2)
  • Oregon at USC (Saturday, 4 pm, Pac-12 Network)
  • South Carolina at Arkansas (Saturday, 5 pm, SEC Network)
  • USF at Tulsa (Saturday, 5 pm, ESPNews)
  • Oregon State at UCLA (Saturday, 6:30 pm, Pac-12 Network)
  • Princeton at Dartmouth (Saturday, 7 pm)
  • Yale at Columbia (Saturday, 7 pm)
  • Florida at Missouri (Saturday, 7:30 pm, SEC Network)
  • St. Bonaventure at St. Louis (Saturday, 8 pm)
  • VCU at Dayton (Saturday, 8 pm, CBSSports)
  • Colorado at Utah (Saturday, 9:30 pm, ESPNU)
  • UNLV at San Diego State (Saturday, 10 pm, CBSSports)
  • Portland at Gonzaga (Saturday, 11:59 pm, ESPN2)
  • SMU at Cincinnati (Sunday, noon, CBS)
  • Illinois at Penn State (Sunday, noon, BTN)
  • UCF at UConn (Sunday, 2 pm, ESPNU)
  • Temple at Tulane (Sunday, 2 pm, ESPN3)

Yes, you can conceivably bubble-watch on Saturday for a solid 14 hours. This is not recommended by the Surgeon General or your marriage counselor.

Comments

ijohnb

March 3rd, 2016 at 2:18 PM ^

that people who don't think this Saturday is a win and in situation for Michigan are crazy.  21-10 and 11-7 in the BIg with 4 top 25 wins gets you into the tournament.

umfan83

March 3rd, 2016 at 2:51 PM ^

Will Iowa even be a top 25 RPI team if we beat them on Saturday?  I knows semantics (top 25 wins would now be top 30 wins), but the quality of that potential win is dropping rapidly.

ijohnb

March 3rd, 2016 at 2:58 PM ^

will be Top 25 when we play them, so I think it would still make the "quality wins" list on selection Sunday.  I don't like Iowa coming in with something to prove though.  I would much prefer them coming in feeling really comfortable and proud of themselves.

MGOTokyo

March 3rd, 2016 at 4:46 PM ^

You've tee'd this up in great form for those of us who have spouse/family/real jobs. ; ) I agree that a win guarantees us a spot. The question is which of your games are most crucial if we lose?

NittanyFan

March 3rd, 2016 at 8:37 PM ^

they will be playing a bunch of "opponent and start time still TBD" games in their respective conference tourneys this weekend.  

Even MORE games to watch for those who want to risk their marriage and/or health!!!!