Got your bracket ready? Because in a few hours, we'll find out Boston College's college basketball postseason fate. For what I can gather, BC still has the slimmest of chances of getting into the field of 68. If the Eagles do manage to get in, they will likely be a 12 seed and playing in Dayton on Tuesday. If BC gets snubbed, it's likely one or two home games in the NIT.
The irony here is that if the NCAA Tournament had stood pat at 65 teams, or had expanded to an unwieldy 96, BC would already have Conte Forum or its plane tickets to the NCAA Tournament First Round booked.
The Eagles are competing for one of the final at-large spots in the NCAAs, and BC's resume will be compared to most, if not all, of the below teams:
| RPI | Program | Record | Conf. | SOS | Road/Neutral | RPI Top 50 | RPI Top 100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 | UAB | 22-8 | 12-4 | 77 | 9-6 | 0-4 | 10-7 |
| 39 | Penn State | 19-13 | 9-9 | 6 | 6-8 | 5-9 | 11-12 |
| 45 | St. Mary's | 23-8 | 11-3 | 101 | 10-6 | 1-4 | 3-6 |
| 48 | Georgia | 21-11 | 9-7 | 40 | 9-7 | 3-9 | 5-11 |
| 49 | VCU | 23-11 | 12-6 | 86 | 12-8 | 3-5 | 8-8 |
| 57 | Clemson | 21-11 | 9-7 | 59 | 6-9 | 0-6 | 10-8 |
| 58 | Boston College | 20-12 | 9-7 | 38 | 8-8 | 1-8 | 7-10 |
| 60 | Virginia Tech | 21-11 | 9-7 | 74 | 10-8 | 2-5 | 8-8 |
| 65 | Colorado | 20-13 | 8-8 | 49 | 6-11 | 6-7 | 8-10 |
| 69 | USC | 19-14 | 10-8 | 39 | 7-10 | 5-5 | 8-8 |
| 80 | Alabama | 21-11 | 12-4 | 114 | 5-11 | 4-4 | 5-8 |
From my perspective, these teams are nearly indistinguishable from one another. Yet another sign of a tremendously weak bubble.
Personally, I'd have no problem if Clemson (two W over BC) or Colorado (strong record against the RPI Top 50) got in over the Eagles. The Hokies getting in over the Eagles would be a tougher pill to swallow, considering BC's regular season sweep over Virginia Tech and better SOS and RPI numbers. However, the Hokies probably deserve to get into the Field of 68 over some of these other teams on the bubble.
The rest of these teams have just as many, if not more, flaws as Boston College. For the Eagles, it's record against RPI Top 50 opponents, a few questionable losses and a lack of signature wins.
- Georgia? Same problem (3-9 RPI Top 50), especially considering one of its three wins against Top 50 opponents was UAB.
- UAB, VCU, St. Mary's and Alabama -- middling strength of schedule numbers.
- USC has one of the lowest RPIs of the bubble bunch and some terrible losses to Rider, Bradley, TCU, Oregon State and Oregon x2.
- Penn State? Assuming the Nittany Lions' don't get the Big Ten's auto-bid, would the Selection Committee be placing too much emphasis on conference tournament results? I mean, while this team did finish 9-9 in a strong Big Ten, they also lost to Maine (we feel your pain).
The Selection Show begins at 6 PM on CBS. Leave your thoughts below.
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