ASU Basketball: ‘Bubble Watch’ entering Senior Day

CBS & ESPN

While Bracket Matrix is a comprehensive list, there are two sources that possess more influence than others – CBS‘ Jerry Palm and ESPN‘s Joe Lunardi. So, let’s take a look at where both men have ASU and how that’s changed in recent weeks.

As of Feb. 22, Lunardi has the Sun Devils as a No. 11 seed in the Midwest region, facing No. 6 Mississippi State in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ironically, if ASU were to advance, they would line up to face No. 3 Kansas, another team they beat in the non-conference season.

This is a change from Lunardi’s previous four brackets from Feb. 8 – 18, where the Sun Devils floated as one of the ‘Last Four In’ following a second Quadrant 4 loss to Washington State.

Here’s what John Gasaway, an ESPN college basketball contributor, had to say about ASU, one of his teams with ‘Work to do’ leading up to the tournament.

"The Sun Devils likely would be in the field of 68, barely, if the selection were held today. Absent the most extreme string of either wins or losses in the arid Quad 1-scarce savanna known as the Pac-12, ASU could remain in this state of bubbly uncertainty for the foreseeable future. True, the upcoming road game at Oregon would in fact qualify as Quad 1 at this writing. Nevertheless, Arizona State already has done its best work under this heading, having won at home against Kansas and Washington and in Las Vegas against Mississippi State and Utah State."

Palm, on the other hand, doesn’t see the Sun Devils as safe. As of Feb. 22, ASU was in the First Four as a No. 12 seed, facing Central Florida – who is led by former Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins – in the East region. The winner would then face No. 5 Maryland.

Here’s what Palm said about ASU on Feb. 20, just hours before the Sun Devils beat Stanford.

"The Sun Devils have one of the most inconsistent tournament resumes of any team in the bracket. They have shown to be equally capable of beating Kansas and Mississippi Stateand losing to Princeton and Washington State at home. Because they are in the woeful Pac-12, quality wins will be tough to come by, but just any run of consistently good play would likely be enough to see them safely in the field."

So, both sources agree ASU should be in, based on their quality wins. But, the weaknesses of the Pac-12 do hold them back, and they’ll have to maintain a stable conclusion in order to stay in the field.