Bracketology: Major changes for bubble teams after surprises Thursday

The NCAA men’s tournament bubble is in full effect with North Carolina, Texas, Indiana and Xavier among the teams pushing and shoving for position in our penultimate NCAA Tournament bracketology projection before Selection Sunday.

The Tar Heels’ postseason credentials were boosted by a 68-59 win in the ACC tournament against another bubble team in Wake Forest. UNC gets solidify its place in the field with a win against undermanned Duke in the semifinals. The Blue Devils advanced past Georgia Tech on Thursday but lost star freshman Cooper Flagg to an ankle injury.

The Longhorns leaped back into the bracket by beating rival Texas A&M 94-89 in double overtime in second round of the SEC tournament. That gives the SEC 14 teams in our projected field, which would shatter the previous record for any conference in one tournament. The record is 11 set by the Big East in 2011.

Xavier did itself no favors by losing 89-87 to Marquette in the Big East tournament despite landing 38 points from junior guard Ryan Conwell. Still, the Musketeers are helped by late misfires from two Big Ten bubble teams.

First, Ohio State lost on Wednesday to lowly Iowa, eliminating the Buckeyes from our bracket. On Thursday, Indiana lost 72-59 to Oregon to potentially close the door on the Hoosiers’ tournament chances.

And two more bubble teams made moves toward the field in the Mountain West, beginning with Boise State. The 23-9 Broncos moved into our bracket after beating San Diego State 62-52 to reach the semifinals of the conference tournament

Later Thursday night, Colorado State beat Nevada 67-59 for an eighth win in a row. After finishing second in the MWC during the regular season, the Rams are one of the first teams out of the field but can punch their ticket by beating Utah State in the Mountain West semifinals.