Men’s Basketball Bracket Watch: Bubble Teams’ Chances Dwindle

Men's Basketball Rankings Watch: Bubble Teams' Chances Dim In this story: Welcome to championship week! It's perhaps the busiest week of the year in college basketball, an all-out race to secure spots in the NCAA Tournament with Selection Sunday just days away and the pool-building process beginning slowly but surely. Throughout the week, Sports Illustrated will have daily and in some cases even more frequent updates with the latest in projections from the 68 field. Here's a look at where things stand heading into Tuesday. Previous Support Watches: January 21 | February 3 | February 10 | February 17 | February 24 | March 3 | March 6 Automatic offers decided on Tuesday - CAA: No. 3 Hofstra vs. No. 4 Monmouth, 7 p.m. eastern time - Horizon League: No. 1 Wright State vs. No. 3 Detroit Mercy, 7 p.m. eastern time - MAAC: No. 1 Merrimack vs. No. 3 Siena, 9 p.m. eastern time - WCC: No. 1 Gonzaga vs. No. 3 Santa Clara, 9 p.m. eastern time in the bubble Last four goodbyes -UCF - North Carolina State - Missouri - Santa Clara Last four in - Tiles - VCU - SMU - Chestnut First four out - Virginia Tech -Indiana -Stanford - New Mexico Next four out -Cincinnati -Oklahoma - San Diego State - Seton Hall It was a horrible weekend for the bubble teams. Basically every team on the fringes of the tournament field outside of VCU lost games, with so many missed opportunities to strengthen the cases for spots in the field. The good news for many of those teams is that their losses weren't as damaging as they might have otherwise been. The bad news is that the bubble will most likely shrink in the coming days as the second wave of conference tournaments begins. If Miami (Ohio) loses in the MAC tournament, it will take away an at-large berth. If Utah State loses in the Mountain West tournament, another one is eliminated. VCU's victory in the Atlantic 10 tournament would secure its candidacy; a third emerging A-10 team besides the Rams and Saint Louis would steal one more spot. And that's not to mention other possible bid-stealing candidates over the next week. That's why Auburn, in particular, should enter the weekend not feeling very good despite being the last team in our projected field. It might take two wins for the Tigers to dance, and even that might not be enough given the headwind of having 16 losses on the ledger heading into Selection Sunday. Tuesday bubble games to monitor - Stanford vs. Pittsburgh, 2 p.m. eastern time - Cincinnati vs. Utah, 3 p.m. eastern time - SMU vs. Syracuse, 4:30 p.m. eastern time - Virginia Tech vs. Wake Forest, 7 p.m. eastern time SMU has slumped lately, entering the ACC tournament with four straight losers. The Mustangs are in the projected field as of Tuesday, but a loss to Syracuse (particularly given SMU's recent trend) could be enough to eliminate them. It's definitely a must-win Virginia Tech game against Wake Forest with the Hokies currently on the wrong side of our projected cut line. A win might change the situation marginally, but the real benefit is a chance at Clemson on Wednesday. Stanford and Cincinnati have gained strength of late with key wins, while others have lost around them. Despite that, they both have work to do this week to have a serious chance at the Dance. Consider the must-win games on Tuesday for a chance to continue building your case later in the week. projected field Bold teams have secured their automatic bet. * â Projected automatic qualifiers. Eastern Region - No. 1 Duke* vs. No. 16 UMBC*/Bethune-Cookman* - No. 8 UCLA vs. No. 9 TCU - No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa - No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 13 Utah Valley* - No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 11 Miami (Ohio)* - No. 3 Iowa State vs. Portland State No. 14* - No. 7 Georgia vs. No. 10 UCF - No. 2 Illinois vs. No. 15 Wright State* Midwest Region - No. 1 Michigan* vs. No. 16 Howard*/Lehigh* - No. 8 Miami vs. No. 9 Texas A&M - No. 5 Arkansas vs.