ASU Basketball: Bubble Watch entering first week of March

Comparison to Other Bubble Teams

If you’re an ASU fan, you should start to get familiar with some of these names: UCF, TCU, Alabama, Minnesota, Seton Hall, Clemson, Utah State and Temple.

Various brackets will dictate different standing, but more than likely, these are the teams that will draw comparison with the Sun Devils toward Selection Sunday. Currently, each is above ASU in NET rating.

Here’s a deeper breakdown of the Sun Devils’ resume.

Arizona State Sun Devils (19-9, 10-6 Pac-12)

Quadrant 1: 3-2

Quadrant 2: 5-3

Quadrant 3: 4-2

Quadrant 4: 7-2

NET: 68

KPI: 39

SOR: 60

BPI: 66

KenPom: 67

Sagarin: 57

On Lunardi’s bracket, UCF, TCU, Alabama and Minnesota are above ASU for a first-round bye. Here’s some updated information on each.

UCF: There’s some Pac-12 lineage in Orlando. Johnny Dawkins, a former eight-year coach at Stanford, has led the Knights to their second 20-win season in his tenure. They have three players averaging double-digits, including 7-foot-6 Tacko Fall, to boast the third-best record in the American conference. Today, the Knights added their best win of the season – a 69-64 road triumph over Houston – to boost their resume further. Barring a collapse, UCF could move even further up NCAA Tournament boards.

TCU: A season ago, the Sun Devils and the Horned Frogs were the last two unbeaten teams in college basketball. Now, both squads are battling it out for an NCAA Tournament berth, and the Horned Frogs arguably have the upper hand. They also have three Quadrant 1 wins – two coming against Iowa State and one versus Florida. There aren’t many errors, either, as it has an 11-0 mark against teams ranked in Quadrant 3 and 4. However, this doesn’t change what’s taking place. TCU has lost five of its last six contests, and its two remaining games are against No. 16 Kansas State and at Texas. It’s a shame that its star player – Jaylen Fisher – isn’t there too turn things around.

Alabama: We talked a little bit about the Crimson Tide in last week’s post. Since then, ‘Bama picked up a Quadrant 2 win at South Carolina before a close loss to No. 13 LSU. The Tide have two Q1 games remaining – at home against Auburn and on the road versus Arkansas – where they can add on to a solid resume across the board. They are 2-8 in Q1, but have a 15-3 record against teams ranked in Q2 through Q4.

Minnesota: Another school that’s in comparison to ASU. The Gophers lost at Rutgers – who is 13-14 – before rebounding with a win at Northwestern. Its two remaining games come against ranked opponents – at home against No. 14 Purdue and at No. 17 Maryland. This is the lowest NET-rated team of the group at No. 55. Minnesota’s best wins came away from home – at Wisconsin and a neutral-site victory against Washington. A 2-8 Q1 record isn’t the best, but the Golden Gophers are 16-3 in games ranging from Q2 to Q4.

Arizona State returns to action with tomorrow night’s game against Oregon State. Tip-off is at 6 p.m, and the game can be viewed live via ESPNU.