ESPN's Joe Lunardi sets up his bubble teams this way:
Last four in: Minnesota, Maryland, Creighton, Saint Mary's.
First four out: Penn State, Arizona, San Diego State, Auburn.
Next four out: Florida, New Mexico, UNLV, Tulsa.
The Mountain West, he projects, will have two selections, BYU and Utah. Not long ago, his projections had the MWC with five, but other teams have stayed in the hunt.
He has the Southeastern Conference with only two teams, LSU and Tennessee. If Mississippi wins its way in today (the Bulldogs are tied 36-36 with Tennessee at halftime), the SEC would have three teams and one of the bubble teams is knocked out.
The Big 12 projects with six selections, putting Texas A&M into the tournament in this calculation.
Over at CBSSportsline.com, guru Jerry Palm, who all season projects how a final bracket will look rather than Lunardi's bracket-of-the-moment, gives his bubble this way:
Last four in: Creighton, Dayton, Maryland, Saint Mary's. (He has Minnesota safely in the tournament.)
First four out: Auburn, Penn State, San Diego State, UNLV.
He sticks with the old standbys (since Oklahoma's demise) as the No. 1 seeds: North Carolina, Louisville, Pitt and Connecticut. Lunardi lifts Memphis to a top seed; Palm says Memphis doesn't have the quality wins.
Palm goes with six Big 12 teams and two MWC teams.
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