Xavier and Indiana had chances to give their resumes a significant boost Thursday, but the Musketeers lost 89-87 to No. 25 Marquette, and Indiana fell 72-59 to No. 23 Oregon. Those aren't bad losses by any means, but they were squandered chances, given that Xavier and Indiana are very much on the bubble.
And Texas and North Carolina, two bubble teams whose outlooks seemed pretty precarious a couple days ago, are still alive in their conference tournaments. The Longhorns snagged a huge win over No. 14 Texas A&M, 94-89 in double overtime. The Tar Heels beat Wake Forest 68-59, avenging a regular-season loss. North Carolina has won eight of nine since a blowout loss at Clemson, with the lone loss being at home to Duke last weekend.
Indiana also closed the regular season strong, winning five of its last seven, but the Hoosiers fell short of the type of run in the Big Ten Tournament that could have solidified their position.
The experts say ...
To underscore how close Texas and North Carolina are to the borderline, there was plenty of disagreement on their status among bracket projections Thursday morning. The Washington Post and Sports Illustrated had Texas in the 68-team field but not North Carolina. CBS Sports had both teams out, with Boise State capturing an at-large spot. ESPN had North Carolina in but not Texas — until an early evening update moved Texas in and Indiana out.
Up next
The Mountain West quarterfinals are worth watching Thursday night. Utah State, San Diego State, Boise State and Colorado State are all on or near the bubble, with New Mexico — a winner earlier Thursday — also expected to make the field.
On Friday, North Carolina gets another shot at top-ranked Duke, which is hobbled after injuries to star forward Cooper Flagg and defensive whiz Maliq Brown.
Automatic bids so far
SIU Edwardsville (Ohio Valley), Omaha (Summit), Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun), High Point (Big South), Drake (Missouri Valley), Wofford (Southern), Troy (Sun Belt), Robert Morris (Horizon), UNC-Wilmington (Coastal Athletic), St. Francis, Pa. (Northeast), Gonzaga (WCC), McNeese (Southland), American (Patriot), Montana (Big Sky).
Automatic bids at stake Friday: None.
___
Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP