Virginia’s bubble gets a little less stable
by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports
GREENSBORO, N.C – Life on the proverbial NCAA tournament bubble can be cruel.
The highs of big wins often are too high, lows of painful losses feel lower than low. Bracketologists – so many so that they’ve sparked a new industry – make a living off of dissecting your resume, sliding you back and forth from “first four teams out” to “last four teams in” on a daily basis. The line between making and missing the field is thin.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett said before Friday’s ACC tournament quarterfinal game that he had no idea what it would take to get an NCAA bid for sure, and he’s right. That’s the cruelest part of the bubble; your fate could be decided by other teams’ outcomes.
Bennett did know one thing for sure, though: had his Cavaliers beaten North Carolina State on Friday, it would have helped their chances. It would have made Sunday slightly less stressful – maybe, probably, hopefully.
Instead, Virginia suffered a 75-56 loss, catapulting the Cavs from play-your-way-in mode to wait-and-see.
They’ll have to hope bubble teams all around the nation keep losing. They can start with rooting against bubble teams in the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic 10.
Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried thinks Virginia is a NCAA tournament team; he said as much earlier this week. He sees the positives in the Cavs’ résumé: four wins against the RPI Top 50, eight overall against the Top 100. But will the negatives – seven losses outside the Top 100 – do Virginia in?
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