Catching up on college hoops

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With national letter of intent day behind us (outside of handing out grades), it's officially become college hoops season on college campuses. Yes, Clay might not agree nor will the throngs of you who see college football as a 365 day a year focus but those of us in the desert realize people now have their eyes trained towards sports next major event: March Madness. There's more parity in college basketball than I remember without a prohibitive favorite like last year's UK edition. Outside of Florida, Indiana, and Michigan it's anyone's guess who else might find themselves on the #1 seed line. Before yesterday, Kansas made this list however a loss to TCU as 18 pt favorites gets you knocked from elite status no matter what. Rather than burden you with a complete list of who's who of players, coaches, and teams think of this as your college basketball crash course letting numbers tell the story

The RPI is good, Ken Pom is better, and while I still don't know what the hell the ESPN Basketball Index really is yet, it won't stop me from using BPI as a metric to grade postseason prospects. Everyone has their own criteria for what makes a tournament resume better than the next and given the watered down product this year, filling out the field of 68 will prove challenging. To make sense of the muddled approach, you'll find 12 bubble worthy teams and my odds for each of them to punch a ticket to the big dance.  For those not interested in teams on the fringe lucky to survive opening weekend, the complete list of college basketball futures is also included below.

Saint Mary’s (Ken Pom 23, ESPN BPI 42)

Good Wins: @BYU
Bad Losses: Pacific (N)

Chance to build resume: 2/14 vs Gonzaga, 2/21 vs BYU, and 2/23 vs Creighton

Odds to make the tournament: -300

Arizona St (Ken Pom 79, ESPN BPI 56)

Good Wins: Arkansas, Colorado, UCLA,
Bad Losses: Depaul

Chance to build resume: 2/23 vs Washington, 2/27 @UCLA, 3/9 @Arizona

Odds to make the tournament: +120

Temple (Ken Pom 68, ESPN BPI 58)

Good Wins: @Villanova, Syracuse, St Louis,
Bad Losses: Canisius, St Bonaventure

Chance to build resume: 3/10 vs VCU

Odds to make the tournament: -160

Indiana St (Ken Pom 67, ESPN BPI 66)

Good Wins: Ole Miss, Miami, @ Wichita St, Creighton
Bad Losses: @Morehead St, @Southern Illinois, @ Drake

Chance to build resume: 2/19 vs Wichita State

Odds to make the tournament: -140

Illinois (Ken Pom 55, ESPN BPI 68)

Good Wins: Butler, @Gonzaga, Ohio St
Bad Losses: @Purdue, Northwestern

Chance to build resume: 2/10 @Minnesota, 2/24 @Michigan, 3/10 @Ohio State

Odds to make the tournament: +180

BYU (Ken Pom 39, ESPN BPI 68)

Good Wins: None
Bad Losses: None

Chance to build resume: 2/21 @St Mary's, 2/28 vs Gonzaga

Odds to make the tournament: -110

Maryland (Ken Pom 54, ESPN BPI 38)

Good Wins: NC State
Bad Losses: None

Chance to build resume: 2/16 vs Duke, 3/6 vs North Carolina, 3/10 @Virginia

Odds to make the tournament: +120

Alabama (Ken Pom 66, ESPN BPI 63)

Good Wins: Villanova, Kentucky, Arkansas
Bad Losses: Dayton, Mercer, Tulane, @Auburn

Chance to build resume: 3/2 @Florida, 3/5 @Ole Miss

Odds to make the tournament: +160

Villanova (Ken Pom 69, ESPN BPI 75)

Good Wins: Louisville, Syracuse
Bad Losses: Columbia, Providence

Chance to build resume: 2/12 @Cincinnati, 2/16 @Uconn, 2/23 vs Marquette, 3/3 @Pittsburgh, 3/6 vs Georgetown

Odds to make the tournament: -115

Bucknell (Ken Pom 58, ESPN BPI 55)

Good Wins: @Purdue, Lasalle,
Bad Losses: @Penn State

Chance to build resume: 2/18 @ Lehigh

Odds to make the tournament: -120 (should be favored to win the Patriot automatic bid)

St Johns (Ken Pom 99, ESPN BPI 89)

Good Wins: @Cincinnati, Notre Dame, Uconn
Bad Losses: @USF, UNC Asheville, Rutgers

Chance to build resume: 2/10 @Syracuse, 2/14 @Louisville, 2/24 Pittsburgh, 3/5 @Notre Dame, 3/9 vs Marquette

Odds to make the tournament: +220

Washington (Ken Pom 85, ESPN BPI 65)

Good Wins: St Louis, @California, @Stanford
Bad Losses: Albany, Nevada, Utah

Chance to build resume: 2/7 @UCLA, 2/13 vs Oregon, 2/20 @Arizona

Odds to make the tournament: +350

All futures odds courtesy of LVH

 

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Clay Travis is the founder of the fastest growing national multimedia platform, OutKick, that produces and distributes engaging content across sports and pop culture to millions of fans across the country. OutKick was created by Travis in 2011 and sold to the Fox Corporation in 2021. One of the most electrifying and outspoken personalities in the industry, Travis hosts OutKick The Show where he provides his unfiltered opinion on the most compelling headlines throughout sports, culture, and politics. He also makes regular appearances on FOX News Media as a contributor providing analysis on a variety of subjects ranging from sports news to the cultural landscape. Throughout the college football season, Travis is on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports breaking down the game and the latest storylines. Additionally, Travis serves as a co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour conservative radio talk program syndicated across Premiere Networks radio stations nationwide. Previously, he launched OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio that included interviews and listener interactions and was on Fox Sports Bet for four years. Additionally, Travis started an iHeartRadio Original Podcast called Wins & Losses that featured in-depth conversations with the biggest names in sports. Travis is a graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School. Based in Nashville, he is the author of Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top, and Republicans Buy Sneakers Too.