FanHouse Ncaa Bubble

While the NCAA tournament bubble isn't a particularly tight place this year, there are some conference tournaments that can still put the squeeze on for March Madness hopefuls. These are the conferences expecting one or two bids, but, should an upset happen along the way, could put the bubble on a diet in a hurry.

Bad news for some major conference bubble team, Xavier lost to Rhode Island in the semi-finals of the A-10 Tourney, 79-71. That means there will be two teams from the A-10 in the NCAA Tournament. It also means that UMass' chance at an at-large is up in smoke.

Xavier is almost certainly going to be an at-large selection. They have a 24-8 record, and beaten teams like Villanova, Kansas State and VCU. Their RPI is 27, and an 11-5 record against RPI Top-100 teams.

Teams that will be sweating even more than before: Florida State, West Virginia, Purdue, Stanford, Illinois, GT, Syracuse.

To the winning the Big South Conference Tournament and freeing up one more at-large bid for a slew of bubble teams. The Winthrop Eagles beat UNC-Ashville 79-60 in their semi-final match. The Eagles actually were in a battle in the first half with Ashville, and only led by 4 at the half.

The second half was all Winthrop, as they simply outworked the Bulldogs on the boards. 17-3 offensive rebounding advantage was the reason. Neither team was that impressive in the game, but the extra opportunities for Winthrop.

Winthrop will face the Virginia Military Institute, which is a surprise. VMI was only 14-18, and 5-9 in the conference -- a 6 seed in the 8 team conference. VMI upset 3 seed Liberty in the opening round and then 2 seed High Point earlier this evening.

The Big South Championship game will be on Saturday afternoon at Winthrop.