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March Madness bracketology: NCAA tournament bubble picture gets shakeup
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- March Madness bracketology: NCAA tournament bubble picture gets shakeup
Miami ( Ohio ) dropped its MAC quarterfinal to UMass to fall to 31-1 but the RedHawks don't fall out of the USA TODAY Sports bracketology field prediction after an unbeaten regular season.
Thanks to results elsewhere during conference championship week – including one crucial result in the SEC – the RedHawks dip down the No. 11 line into one of the NCAA tournament play-in games. This wouldn't be a terrible result for Miami, which is located just an hour from Dayton, Ohio, which hosts the play-in round.
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Miami stays ahead of fellow bubble teams such as Auburn and Missouri , which lost in the second round of the SEC tournament, and Indiana, a loser to Northwestern in the Big Ten tournament.
Auburn had a chance to punch its NCAA ticket by beating Tennessee but couldn't stop freshman Nate Ament , who returned from injury after missing about two weeks and poured in 27 points in the Volunteers' 72-62 win. Missouri lost 78-72 to Kentucky and is now on the wrong side of the bubble.
Indiana was in position to make the field before its second loss of the season to Northwestern.
The bubble remains messy but is starting to get a little clearer as contenders advance in or fall out of tournament play.
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One contender making a late move is Oklahoma , which dropped nine midseason games in a row but has rebounded to go 8-2 in its last 10. The Sooners have recently added wins against Auburn, Texas before strong efforts against South Carolina and Texas A&M at the SEC tournament.
Two contenders to watch are Mountain West rivals San Diego State and New Mexico , which will meet in the conference semifinals. While the Aztecs or Lobos could make it easy by going ahead and winning the MWC title, the winner of the semifinal is in good shape for an at-large spot.
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March Madness last four in
Santa Clara, Virginia Commonwealth, SMU, Miami (Ohio).
March Madness first four out
New Mexico, Oklahoma, Auburn, Indiana,.
NCAA Tournament bids conference breakdown
Multi-bid leagues:SEC (10), Big Ten (9), ACC (8), Big 12 (8), Big East (3), West Coast (3), Atlantic 10 (2), MAC (2).
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: March Madness bracket predictions: NCAA Tournament bubble picture changes
