Boston College vs. Wake Forest, Part II, and the bubble watch
By Joe Micik
You may refer to my previous preview article of Wake Forest at Boston College from this past weekend, and everything I said in it still applies for this first-round game of the ACC Tournament. Like that one, this is a must-win. This is a “no excuses” game. This is for all the marbles, so to speak. If you win, you play on, and have a chance to avoid the horrifying prospect of an NIT home game. Lose, and completely wreck the entire season in just 40 minutes.
The line is BC -13, as opposed to BC -17 in the last game, so apparently the bookies weren’t all that impressed by BC’s 16-point win on Sunday – that, or they’re more inclined to think that Wake will be better the second time around. In any case, the Deacs are the worst ACC team in 25 years, and to maintain even a sliver of credibility, BC must get rid of them in short order and prepare for Clemson tomorrow, if we are so fortunate. Aside from that, there is very little I can add to my analysis that I didn’t already say a few days ago. Gametime is at approximately 2:30pm ET.
Now, onto the rest of the bubble. Unfortunately, Colorado won to keep themselves afloat, but we bid adieu to Baylor and Nebraska, who, despite their best efforts (aside from Baylor, who exhibited none in their embarrassing loss to Oklahoma), committed basketball seppuku in Kansas City yesterday. The list of teams to root against has grown quite a bit, however, so in addition to pulling for the Eagles, your rooting interests are as follows (and for the purposes of ACC solidarity, I will not list Virginia Tech as a team to root against here…today):
*Kansas State. You have to figure the Wildcats will eventually beat the Buffs, right? According to Joe Lunardi’s latest update, Colorado’s win over last-place Iowa State barely moved the needle, so Colorado falling in this game could make things very tense in Boulder. K-State is safely in, so their winning would not negatively impact our situation.
*Auburn. Unlike their football team, the Tigers are terrible, but they have won their last two games. They are the SEC’s version of Wake Forest, but if you’re looking for a reason for optimism, they were at least able to take Georgia to overtime this year. Perhaps a better effort will be in store this time.
*Southern Mississippi. Memphis is another one of those teams we just need to go away ASAP.
*California. Don’t even bother with the potential for a minuscule RPI boost from them winning: USC has made a late bubble charge, and I think now is as good a time as any for it to end. I will add that Cal, a team BC has beaten, is also creeping up the bracketology boards.
*Iowa. The Hawkeyes did zip against Michigan State last week in a game that could have knocked Sparty off the bubble, but they get a second chance. I should also note that Iowa did beat them in a blowout earlier on in the season. Even if they do beat Michigan State, however, I’m not 100% sure the Spartans would be out. They would be up to 14 losses, though, and even with their RPI, that’s a pretty tough sell.
*New Mexico. Colorado State is another one of those teams barely hanging around, and that needs to stop for our sakes. UNM, as you may recall, is the team that just flambéed BYU right after the Davies suspension and they are heating up.
*Marshall. UTEP is another one of those pesky last four out/next four out type of teams that we would very much like to see out of the way, lest they go on a run in the CUSA Tournament.
*Arkansas. It would appear that the Vols are in the dance, but not by a whole lot. A loss to the Hogs would put them in an uncomfortable situation.
*Washington. Wazzu is hanging around, too. Losing to Washington, a good team in their own right, isn’t horrible, but WSU is not on the right side of the bubble at present. If they win, they will get a lot closer to the borderline.