Ky and I’s judicious use of the world “lock” proved wise this week, as teams like Butler, Marquette and West Virginia did everything they could to slide further and further down the S-curve. It was a shaky week for the bubble overall, rife with vanilla 1-1 performances that kept the status quo essentially the same as last week. Only one team changed categories (BYU elevated to lock status after taking down Gonzaga), while a few flimsy cases were ejected from this space after adding more losses (St. Louis, St. John's, Oregon State …).
Our updated numbers situation breaks down as such—bear in mind these teams are in competition for something like 46 bids (36 at-large, an auto-bid from each league):
Locks: 19 Locks: Duke, Louisville, Florida State We sadly had to remove Virginia Tech from this section, as the Hokies had an 0–2 week and dropped out of the NET top 80.
Comfortable, but not Relaxing: 10
Sweating Bullets: 35ACC
Comfortable, but Not Relaxing: None
Sweating Bullets: Virginia, Notre Dame, NC State, Syracuse