Lets consider some bubble schools who played last night
FLORIDA scored a much needed feather in their cap with by knocking off #2 Tennessee. Gators shot up 9 spots to 41 in the NET. Just 13-9, even with this one they are still lacking beef on the resume. Yes a win over bubble Mississippi State counts as a Q1 win but that does not move any needles. A Q2 win over Missouri is all else they have. They got swept by bubble Texas A&M, a loss to Oklahoma, Their best OOC win was Kennesaw State. 2-7 vs Q1, 1-2 in Q2, that means 10 of their 13 wins are from Q3/4. Thats going to have to improve. The positives are there are no bad losses so its a clean resume and the sos numbers of 20/41 are very fine. Next 2 are road games at Kentucky and at Alabama. Gators need to win one of these because there is only another game with Kentucky and a game at Arky that are quality win opportunities. I assume they will be showing up in some brackets today but not mine because not enough here yet.
SETON HALL another 13-9 mark but their NET sags at 52. Still I think people are sleeping on this profile. The SOS numbers are very very strong at 11/32. Committee likes that. Q1 3-5, Q2 2-3. They have a win over UConn but the win at Rutgers may actually be their biggest of the season. The neutral site win over Memphis is a big help. Loss to Siena is Q3 and while they would like to have that back, it can be forgiven. Beat SJU in a game they had to have. Pirates need to take care of business in the games where they are favored and then pick off 2 others. 4 quality win opportunities to come....Creighton, at Connecticut, Xavier, at Providence. Could see them 18-12 heading into the BE tourney playing for their lives
UTAH STATE moved to 17-5 with a win at New Mexico. Admittedly I am not a fan of the Aggies resume and I just do not think the Mountain West will get 5. The Aggies have the flimsiest resume of the group albeit strong overall NET. Yes winning at New Mexico is a quality win but what else do they have. Just a win over Oral Roberts which is good. The issue I have are 2 Q4 losses to SMU and at home to Weber State. Non conference sos is 214 so that will not help them there. 2 home games vs San Diego St/Boise St and a trip to Nevada so they will need to win 2 of those. For me they are clearly out currently but have opportunity to make their case
PITTSBURGH picked up a big road victory at UNC. Panthers are getting it done. Their profile is getting better day by day and that is where you want to be trending in February. Now 16-7 and yes the NET lags at 59, Pitt is up to 4-2 in Q1 and 4-4 in Q2...the 8-6 mark in Q1/2 is outstanding. Wins over Virginia, NC State, North Carolina, Northwestern (the latter 3 on the road), Miami, another win over North Carolina. That is 6 wins over NCAA projected schools. I realize there is a Q4 loss to Florida State and a 31 point loss to Michigan and the latter probably cost them about 10 NET points. To me they have moved above the last 4 in line for now and its all about navigating landmines the rest of the season. Just 2 Q1 opportunities on the road at Virginia Tech and Miami but the other 6 are drek from the ACC in Q3/4
NORTH CAROLINA at 43 NET and 15-7 has almost the same profile as they did last year at this time. No real quality wins but yes totally clean with no bad losses. 1-6 in Q1, a better 5-1 Q2 yet their only real quality wins are NC State and Charleston. The Ohio State, Michigan and Wake wins are fading fast. Last year the Heels knocked off Duke and took off. This year a win over Duke will not carry the same cache but the Heels are insane gauntlet where their back half of their schedule was loaded. 8 of the 10 games will be against NCAA contenders. 5 Q1 games and 3 Q2 games. So UNC lost their first one a Q2 to Pitt. Plenty of opportunities so I think its going to be clear cut, either play their way safely in or out.