We slide face-first into conference tournament play today with a lot of teams on a very squishy bubble. We are focused on the bubble teams that relate to UH – teams around .500 that could end their season this week with a quick exit (or a bad last weekend for Arizona). Can the Cougar résumé be in the top half of these teams once Sunday afternoon comes?
Here’s the table from our article from Sunday with this year’s bubble teams.
2019 Bubble Teams
| School | RPI | W/L | Conf. | Rank | Road | Q1 | Top 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenn | 11 | 38-18 | 14-16 | 1 | 7-9 | 17-16 | 21-17 |
| Auburn | 19 | 32-23 | 14-16 | 1 | 10-12 | 14-19 | 24-21 |
| Florida | 25 | 33-23 | 13-17 | 1 | 6-12 | 16-19 | 21-20 |
| Mizzou | 26 | 34-21 | 13-16 | 1 | 11-12 | 10-16 | 14-16 |
| UConn | 28 | 33-22 | 12-12 | 5 | 13-13 | 9-9 | 17-16 |
| OU | 37 | 33-21 | 11-13 | 2 | 15-11 | 4-11 | 18-16 |
| Clemson | 38 | 33-23 | 15-15 | 3 | 10-11 | 7-13 | 22-20 |
| UH | 40 | 32-22 | 12-12 | 5 | 12-8 | 8-10 | 16-12 |
| UVA | 43 | 32-22 | 14-16 | 3 | 9-9 | 8-15 | 16-20 |
| Arizona | 44 | 29-24 | 12-14 | 4 | 7-14 | 3-16 | 15-18 |
| UCF | 45 | 34-20 | 11-13 | 5 | 11-8 | 8-9 | 16-14 |
| FSU | 50 | 35-20 | 17-13 | 3 | 7-10 | 8-11 | 16-18 |
UH desperately needs a win against UConn today. It would even the season series, put the Huskies under-.500 in league play, and give the Coogs a neutral win over a top-30 team.
Lael Lockhart goes for UH in the breakfast special.
The SEC Tournament begins this morning at the Hoover Met. The first day is a single-elimination round for seeds 5-12. If you lose today, you’re out of the tournament. There are 3 games that are of interest to UH fans:
Florida plays the opener against Texas A&M at 9:30. And while it’s tempting to root against the Ags, a Florida loss should take them off the bubble. 13-18 is not good enough in league play. It pains me to say this but Fight Farmers Fight!
Mizzou plays next and they get Ole Miss. A Tigers loss puts them at 13-17 in the conference and likely off the bubble. Hotty Toddy, Gosh Almighty.
This afternoon at 4:30, Tennessee and Auburn play. Both are 14-16 in the league, on the bubble, and I’m not 100% certain that a loss eliminates either. Because Tennessee has a higher RPI (11 vs. 19 for AU), perhaps Cougar fans can light a (small) candle for the Vols.
OU is in need of wins in the Big 12 Tournament. The Sooners are sitting there at 11-13 and face two-seed Baylor tomorrow. Two quick losses on top of their 7th-place finish in the B12 should be enough to eliminate the Sooners.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”#dd0000″ class=”” size=”20″] perhaps Cougar fans can light a (small) candle for the Vols[/perfectpullquote]
The ACC Tournament features four pools of three teams each. You play both opponents in your pool and the winner goes to the semifinals on Saturday.
UVA is the team we want to be eliminated here. They face UNC (#20 RPI and Miami (#17) in their pod. With a 14-16 conference record and an RPI of 43 already – UVA could see their bubble popped with losses to two good teams.
Arizona finishes the Pac-12 regular season in Pullman, Washington this weekend. The Cougars are #214 in the RPI and just 11-39 on the field. Even a Zona sweep likely dings their RPI. If they win 2 of 3 and finish 14-15 in the Pac-12, is that enough? Their resume would be worse than UCF’s last year – and UCF was left out.
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