Most of the major conferences are getting started with their 2nd round or quarterfinals. Which means you have a lot of bubble teams playing each other.

The day starts off with a bang – as we get to see Michigan and Indiana battle it out in the Big 10. The Hoosiers definitely need this game more than the Wolverines at this point, but it will be interesting to see if Michigan plays with extra passion having Coach Howard back (as you can tell from my rant from yesterday, I will not be upset if Karma comes and leads Indiana to a victory – and I am a Purdue fan, so that tells you how much I hate the whole bad sportsmanship piece).

The SEC will be starting off with Florida and Texas A&M, as Florida has been trying to hang on to their bubble spot while Texas A&M has surged into the conversation with some big victories towards the end of the season.

The Big 12 starts off with TCU vs. Texas. This is a chance for the Horned Frogs to get one more big win on their resume against a top 25 team.

And it isn’t even 2 pm yet!!!! For those who have to work (including the Lunatic), don’t you worry. Thursday evening has games for you to watch as well.

The ACC will have Virginia Tech, who survived last night off a buzzer beater, going against Notre Dame – with the ACC bubble picture so murky, both teams really could use this game.

You have an interesting bubble candidate in the Big 12 from Oklahoma. The Sooners are still in the picture but they are 7-11 in the brutal conference play. The bracket didn’t give them any favors either, as they drew Baylor, who looks like they might be one of the 4 top seeds next week. Beating the Bears might help the Sooners get that one high profile victory they need, but can a 7-12 team in conference really make it if they lose.

If you want to check out some games of really good teams that you probably didn’t know about, check out the Mountain West tournament today. Their big bubble match is Wyoming vs UNLV. Wyoming had been ranked in the Top 25 recently, but they have stumbled recently to make this quarterfinal a huge game for them.

I am also still curious about the middle of the Pac 12. If you listen to the experts (who might be right), there is no bubble in this conference. Arizona, UCLA, and USC are safely in – and might all be playing late into March. And then that’s it. So, I am interested if some of those teams with NET rankings in the high 60s and 70s can make a run – especially in the quarter-final between Oregon and Colorado today.

And of course, the people here in Richmond will probably be excited for the final ACC match up between North Carolina and Virginia.

There might be a few better games than what I have mentioned. To be honest, if you want to watch great basketball, you can probably just turn on the Big 12 tournament and leave it on all day. But there is only so much time before work to blog!!!!

I have updated the Bracketology page with a listing of the conferences auto-bids, top NET teams from the one-bid conferences, and teams that based on their standings in the polls and NET rankings are either locks for the dance or playing desperately for a chance to continue their season. After today’s games, we will probably be able to better rank those bubble teams’ chances.

Enjoy the games!!!!