The weekend in college hoops

Good morning! Spend most of Sunday watching football? That’s OK. Take a few minutes from debating 4th-down strategy and read about the weekend hoops.

1. Assessing the weekend’s bubbly games

Is it too early to be talking about the NCAA Tournament bubble? Depends on what side of the bubble you’re on. And right now, a lot of programs aren’t feeling great.

As noted in Fielding the 68, our weekly bracketology show, there was no shortage of games with bracket implications over the weekend.

And I’m talking games that truly impacted the teams who are trying to get in, or trying to stay in. Memphis (15-5, 4-3 in AAC) may have lost its third straight on Sunday, but the Tigers are still safely in the field. Same with Utah (14-7, 5-5 in Pac-12), which dropped two road games. Both are generally considered in the field (assuming they stop losing).

STOCK UP 📈

Teams with solid wins and now in striking distance of an at-large.

• Washington State - beat Colorado and has won five of six. An ever-improving profile.

• Gonzaga - at 15-5 overall and no Quad 1 wins, the Zags have to keep winning.

• Virginia - Does winning at Louisville mean much? Maybe?

• Florida - blew a big lead and needed double OT to beat Georgia, but it’s won 3 straight.

• Butler - not in most brackets, but sneaky-good profile compares favorably to Seton Hall and Nova, which it just beat.

STOCK DOWN 📉

Teams in danger of dropping out of the field.

• Villanova - has lost 4 in a row and at 11-9, is feeling the heat.

• Seton Hall - got crushed at Marquette and has lost 3 straight. (Really needs Kadary Richmond back.)

• Nebraska - A 22-point loss at Maryland is ugly.

• Oregon - the 87-78 home loss to Arizona isn’t bad, but losing 3 of 4 is.

• Michigan State - bruh.

• Boise State - Losing at home hurts, but at least it was to Utah State.

• Kansas State - too harsh for too straight road losses?

• Colorado - a 78-69 to at Wazzu essentially pushed them behind the Cougs.

STOCK HOLDING 

Did what they were supposed to, or had a loss against a good team., which means they’re still in. For now.

• Mississippi State - after beating No. 8 Auburn on Saturday, Bulldogs have stronger profile than Florida and Texas A&M.

• New Mexico - routed Nevada at home on Sunday and would be 4th MWC in.

• Northwestern - followed up win vs. Illinois with 25-point rout of Ohio State.

• Ole Miss - Rebs are 17-3 and just beat Texas A&M.

• Providence - handled Georgetown. (More below)

• Cincinnati - beat UCF, but is gonna need a few more Quad 1 wins to get out of the 12-seed range.

• South Carolina - handled Mizzou for its 3rd straight win.

• Texas - no shame in losing at BYU. Question will be if Horns can get to .500 in Big 12.

Need more bracket talk, including updates on the overall seeds and more bubble talk? Watch Fielding the 68 today at 5:30 pm ET on Twitter or on YouTube.

2. Taking stock of Big 12 chaos

OK, “chaos” is a bit strong. But stick with me. Here’s where Texas Tech and Iowa State were picked to finish in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll.

And here are the standings three weeks into the season.

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