Updated: February 22, 2013, 10:16 am ET

BYU’s tournament hopes erased after loss

By HOOPSWORLD
Basketball News & NBA Rumors

by Patrick Stevens, USA TODAY Sports

There’s one departure from the Bubble Tracker thanks to Thursday’s results, and it’s a team that hadn’t done much to be there in the first place.

That would be Brigham Young (20-9), a 64-57 loser at Saint Mary’s in a game that created further separation between second and third place in the West Coast Conference.

The Cougars are 0-3 against the top 50 in the RPI and just 3-7 against the top 100. They’ve lost to sub-.500 San Diego and San Francisco and have just six victories over teams in the top 150.

Still, they had slim at-large hopes largely because second shots at Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga still loomed. With its best victory of the season (based on the RPI) coming on the first day of the season against Tennessee State, the Cougars didn’t have any realistic wiggle room left in their at-large hopes.

It’s gone now, even with Gonzaga’s visit to Provo coming up Thursday before BYU’s regular-season finale at Loyola Marymount.

The Cougars have appeared in six consecutive NCAA tournaments, winning at least one game in the last three postseasons. The only way those impressive streaks can possibly continue is if BYU can rattle off victories on three specific dates in one particular setting: March 8, 9 and 11 in the WCC tournament in Las Vegas.

As for other borderline teams on Thursday:

  • Saint Mary’s, itself not a particularly accomplished team but with a significantly better profile than Brigham Young, kept its at-large hopes alive. The Gaels will play in perhaps the only Bracket Buster game of consequence this weekend when they play host to Creighton.

  • Arkansas won no style points with its tight home victory over Georgia, but it doesn’t really matter. What the Razorbacks really require is to distinguish themselves on the road. Lo and behold, Arkansas visits Florida on Saturday and will try to complete a season sweep of the SEC leaders. That won’t be easy, especially for a team that’s just 1-8 on road and neutral venues this season.

  • Arguably no team has helped its tournament chances more this month than California, which has won six of its last seven. The … [For more on Bubble Watch: BYU's NCAA tournament hopes erased after latest loss, click here.]

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