March Madness has a lot of storylines throughout the tournament and also leading up to it. We all love it when we find out who the potential number one seeds could be, but we also need to know who the likely bubble teams are. Those are the ones that can make or break a team’s college basketball season for potential at-large bids.
The March Madness schedule for dates has been announced for 2023, but the times of the games have not been yet because the tournament field has not been released yet obviously. Who are the potential bubble teams that will look to make the field of 68 in the NCAA Tournament?
Arizona State Sun Devils
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Arizona State Sun Devils as one of his last four teams in the 2023 NCAA Tournament field. Arizona State currently is fifth in the PAC-12 standings. They have a 15-5 overall record so far this season and have a 6-3 PAC-12 Conference record. The PAC-12 could very well have five teams in the tournament field.
The Arizona Wildcats and the UCLA Bruins are two of the Top 10 teams in the country. Also, the Utah Utes and the USC Trojans are also ahead of them in the standings. The Sun Devils are coached by Bobby Hurley. Arizona State will need some key wins down the stretch and no bad losses to get themselves into the field of 68.
Penn State Nittany Lions
According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, he thinks that the Penn State Nittany Lions will be one of the final four teams in the field of 68 at the current moment. Penn State is an interesting case. They have a 13-7 overall record and are just 4-5 in BIG10 conference play.
The Nittany Lions are currently 11th in the standings in the BIG10 Conference, but this team always has a ton of teams on the field every single season.
There’s a possibility 12 teams from this conference get into the big dance because of how competitive and tight the competition is. Micah Shrewsberry is their head coach. This is going to be a bubble team for the rest of the way and they are going to need to win some big games within the conference before solidifying themselves as an NCAA Tournament.
Some of the locks in this conference are the Purdue Boilermakers, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, and the Michigan Wolverines.
Kentucky Wildcats
Joe Lunardi has the Kentucky Wildcats as another team from the SEC as a last-four team in the field of 68. Kentucky has had a very interesting season up to this point after being a number two seed in the field of 68 a season ago.
The Wildcats are currently fifth in the SEC Standings with a 14-6 overall record and a 5-3 record in the SEC Conference. Currently, there are four teams ahead of them and they are the Auburn Tigers, the Texas A & M Aggies, the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the Tennessee Volunteers.
The Kentucky Wildcats need to win the games in the conference they are supposed to at this point and can’t have any bad losses. John Calipari is the head coach.
This was supposed to be a very strong year in the SEC, but it hasn’t turned out to be the case. Kentucky will get in based on reputation unless they mess themselves up down the stretch to make the tournament committee think otherwise about them also.
Oklahoma Sooners
This is a team that is listed as one of the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament field, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Oklahoma is behind here and has to catch up to do down the stretch. They are eighth in the BIG12 Conference with an 11-9 overall record and just 2-6 in BIG12 Conference play. That isn’t going to get the job done.
It sounds like the only path they have to get to the NCAA Tournament is for them to win their conference tournament. The Iowa State Cyclones, the Kansas State Wildcats, the Texas Longhorns, the TCU Horned Frogs, the Baylor Bears, and the Kansas Jayhawks are all ranked in the Top 25 and will all be locked to make the 2023 NCAA Tournament field.
As for the Oklahoma Sooners, their head coach is Porter Moser. Oklahoma is in the best conference in college basketball.
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