Good evening, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) fans.
Let’s talk about bubble teams – and the NCAA tournament.
Had an interesting conversation tonight with @BearDownBD on Twitter who provided some good insight on Vanderbilt:
@AllSportsDACC Vanderbilt has much better wins than Clemson: Iowa St, Florida, Arkansas and can match Clemsons best win (SC)
— Tommy FIVE Rings (@BeardownBD) March 4, 2017
@AllSportsDACC Vandy doesn’t deserve to be in but in the bubble convo given how weak this bubble is with their wins is perfectly reasonable
— Tommy FIVE Rings (@BeardownBD) March 4, 2017
I’ll be fair here – Vanderbilt has a bunch of losses to NCAA tournament teams – they played a tough non-conference schedule in America with games vs. Marquette, Bucknell, Belmont, Middle Tennessee State, Butler, Minnesota, and Dayton. And they are 6-9 on the road.
But I can’t ignore the Commodores 16-14 record (and they will have 15 losses very soon). They are one game above .500 now and should not be in the bubble conversation. Yes, they have wins vs. Iowa State, Florida, and Arkansas – but they also drilled by Middle Tennessee State (a team that might not get in if they don’t win their conference tournament – a team that has a higher RPI) and took a loss to RPI 259 Missouri (which should basically cancel out that win vs. Florida and maybe the win vs. Arkansas). Call me literal here, but if you’re barely above .500, you can’t get the wins when it counts – and you have no business being near the bubble or the NCAA tournament. Before they get on any bubble, you’d think they’d have to defeat Kentucky and Florida to be bubblicious.
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