Bubble Watch: Syracuse looking to repeat last season's magic
As we inch closer to March Madness, we turn our attention to the bubble and the respective teams living on it. Every Friday for the rest of the season, theScore will provide a look at teams sitting on the bubble and their chances of making the NCAA tournament.
Syracuse 16-9 (8-4) RPI: 58 SOS: 56
The Orange were left for dead after an 18-point road loss to Notre Dame on Jan. 21. Since then, Jim Boeheim’s bunch has reeled off five straight wins, including a pair of top-10 victories over Florida State and Virginia at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse’s once stagnant offense has caught fire, averaging 82.2 points over that five-game run.
Despite losing the turnover battle in three of the five wins, Syracuse has become a much more efficient offense thanks to its lights-out 3-point shooting. A pair of games against Louisville and a home date with resurgent Duke await the Orange in the next two weeks. If they handle their business against Pitt and Georgia Tech and steal one game against Louisville or Duke, they should be on the safe side of the bubble come next month.
Cal 18-6 (9-3) RPI: 35 SOS: 45
The early departure of Jaylen Brown and the transfer of Jordan Mathews set the stage for subdued optimism surrounding the Golden Bears program this season. Four losses before the calendar turned to 2017 didn’t help change the narrative that this would be a down year in the Bay Area for Cal. But much like Syracuse, Cal has turned the corner in the past month.
Winners of eight of their last nine, the Berkeley boys are powered by double-double machine Ivan Rabb. The potential lottery pick has been nothing short of sensational for Cuonzo Martin. The schedule gets rocky over the next week with a Saturday trip to Arizona and a Feb. 22 home date against Oregon. But with 18 wins already, neither game is a must-have for Cal. Barring a full-on collapse down the stretch, Cal could be in line for an 8- or 9-seed next month.
Rhode Island 16-7 (8-3) RPI: 38 SOS: 48
While Syracuse and Cal’s tournament chances are bolstered by their respective conference’s RPI, the A-10 won’t do Rhode Island any favors. VCU and Dayton look to be in line for tournament bids and it’s unlikely the conference gets three teams in, leaving the Rams on the outside.
The good news is that Rhody has a quality non-conference win against Cincinnati and the committee historically takes injuries into account when selecting at-large candidates. The Rams’ Hassan Martin missed five games due to injury and slowly got back into game shape once he returned. When Martin plays 25 or more minutes, R.I. is 7-3 and much better defensively. They get the Flyers at home tonight at the Ryan Center, a matchup teeming with at-large implications.
Indiana 15-10 (5-7) RPI: 76 SOS: 58
While some of the bubble teams profiled this week are surging, the Hoosiers are doing exactly the opposite. Tom Crean’s team was a fixture in the AP top 25 early in the season but has since fallen off a cliff. After getting waxed by Michigan and Northwestern by a combined margin of 43 points, Indiana stopped the bleeding with an eight-point, triple-overtime victory against Penn State. Unfortunately for the Crimson and Cream, they followed up that win with a pair of five-point losses to Wisconsin and Purdue.
Their once-dynamic offense continues to sputter and it appears they may have found their ceiling (read: NIT) without the services of OG Anunoby. A four-game stretch against non-ranked opponents awaits IU and anything less than a 3-1 outcome could knock the Hoosiers off the bubble altogether.