Stephanie Logue

Staff Writer 

szl414@psu.edu

In February, many people focus on Valentine’s day, Groundhog’s day, and The Super Bowl. Meanwhile, most sports fans focus on the Super Bowl. True sports fans can never forget about March Madness. While February is coming to its end, the bubble is getting crazier and more exciting. 

The Big 12’s bubbliness has become one of February’s biggest surprises at Bubble Watch 2022. It wasn’t intended to be this way for perhaps the best conference in the country. After all, here at the Watch, about half of the league has already attained lock status. Kansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, and Texas are all safe bets at the top of their respective league’s section below. The remainder of the conference, on the other hand, has opted to shake things up a bit.  You will find just as many teams in “work to do” as you will in “locks.” 

TCU, Iowa State, and Oklahoma are a combined 3-10 in February, and one of those three wins was a foregone conclusion because it came from within the group: ISU defeated the Horned Frogs on the road. TCU, the Sooners, and especially the Cyclones were all considered safe bets only two weeks ago. Joe Lunardi now has them all as either “last four byes” or “last four in.”

Kansas State has entered the conversation from the opposite direction, not satisfied to allow other Big 12 teams to create all the intrigue. The Wildcats have won four of their last five games and are presently in the “next four out” position. These four Big 12 bubble teams will have to build their profiles in games against each other and against the conference’s four locks for the remainder of the season. Much of the league’s schedule will be made up of big lock-on matches or games with playoff implications. In the Big 12, it should be a crazy ride. Here are the predictions for the bubble right now: 

Through Monday February 14th, Arizona and Kentucky are the top seeds and rise to No. 1 in the tournament.  The top overall seed, Gonzaga, remains unchanged in Katz’s latest bracket forecast. The remainder of the No. 1 seeds, on the other hand, have a different look, Arizona moves up to second place overall, ahead of Auburn; the Tigers maintain their one seed but drop to third overall. Kentucky completes the one-seed lineup. The Wildcats have risen from a three seed to a one seed in a couple of weeks, thanks to Oscar Tshiebwe, a national player of the year candidate. Due to the addition of two additional one-seed teams, Kansas and Baylor, both from the Big 12, were forced to descend to two seeds.

With eight teams in the projected field, the Big Ten has reclaimed its place atop the league standings. In all but one bracket forecast, the Big Ten has the most teams. Meanwhile, the SEC’s shine has faded from a few weeks ago, when it had a nation-leading eight teams in the tournament. The conference, though, remains a threat in March with two number one seeds. Here below is the number of bids by Conference: 

There are also teams we need to pay attention for such as the teams outside looking in. Andy Katz, who is a college basketball analyst for the Big Ten Network and a college basketball correspondent for the NCAA made a list  below: 

Here are Andy Katz’s first four teams. First four out 1. BYU 2. Virginia 3. Rutgers 4. Florida

After a dramatic road win against Duke, Virginia finds itself barely outside the First Four. The Cavaliers have won four straight games as we enter the second half of February, indicating that they are resurgent at the appropriate time of year. With six Quadrant 1 victories this season, Rutgers has earned a spot on the bubble. The Scarlet Knights followed up their victory over Purdue with victories over Ohio State and Wisconsin when they were ranked No. 1 in the country. Rutgers has a regular season schedule that includes visits to Purdue and Michigan, as well as games against Illinois and Wisconsin, that might help the Scarlet Knights get into the tournament. Other teams that did not make the cut include:

5. Mississippi State

6. San Diego State

7. West Virginia

8. Creighton

Andy Katz also made a field of 68 shown below: 

With these predictions with March Madness, this just makes it more exciting to watch as we see who fights for the top spot.