Bubble Watch

[CardinalSagehen]

Stanford MBB could not be more "on the bubble" than this.

As of today, ESPN's Joe Lunardi has Stanford as the "Last Team In".  
https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/...acketology

Meanwhile, CBS Sports doesn't even have Stanford among the "First 4 Out".  
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basket...cketology/

Other smaller sources of Bracketology seem fairly mixed between "in" and "out".  

The team has a record of 4-5 in "Quad 1" games, a Net Ranking of 56, and an RPI of 53.   

It seems to be going right down to the wire!

[Papa John]

If we lose to either UW (NET=191) or WSU (115) we will be off the bubble in the wrong direction.

[Farm93]

If we lose to either UW (NET=191) or WSU (115) we will be off the bubble in the wrong direction.

The team must get 5 more wins to stay a credible bubble team.
That can be 5-1 to finish the season and a who cares type Pac-12 tournament loss or 4-2 season finish and at least one Pac-12 tournament win.  UW, Washington State, Oregon State and UCB are all must wins because a loss to any of them will have a devastating impact on Stanford's computer ratings.  Note: COVID protocol cancellations of any of the four would likely be OK too.

The one school that can help Stanford the most remains Alabama.   If Alabama wins the SEC and the SEC tournament then that would really help Stanford quite a bit.

A school with a bad PR department would let the "It was early" narrative take hold, but I trust the Stanford AD will point out that Stanford played Alabama at the start of the mega road trip with a healthy roster.   Only now in late Feb will Stanford finally get back to that state of readiness and a healthy Stanford without a 50+ day road trip has played much better than a 10, 11 or 12 seed that was the projected slot for the team during the 50+ road trip with a limited roster.  The spin, IMHO, will only be credible if Stanford remains on track for 18 or more wins.

[bbm233]

We have already played the Bears twice (and won both). They moved the second game forward to free up the last week of the regular season for makeup games. At this time, it looks like we will be idle that week. 

We need to take care of business with UW, WSU and OSU, and then win at least one of UO or USC to feel good about getting an invitation. Add in one victory in the Pac 12 tourney and it would be inevitable. That's the path.