Cincinnati took a loss at home to Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, a defeat that knocked the Bearcats out of the bracket for now. There are still opportunities ahead for them to build a resume, but the job just got tougher.
The team replacing Cincinnati was not Butler, which was the first team out. Instead, Richmond is back as the Atlantic 10 automatic qualifier following Dayton's loss at George Mason. The Spiders are, in effect, a bid stealer as the A-10 is a one-bid league if Dayton is the automatic qualifier at the end.
Mississippi State won the double bubble game with rival Ole Miss, splitting the season series between the two. The Rebels moved down to the last four in with the loss combined with Nebraska's win at Indiana.
You're going to have to stay up past your bedtime to watch tonight's bubble games with two matchups featured on the West Coast and a late one in the Big Ten.
Check out all the teams on Palm's Bubble Watch, the field of the 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub
Bubble teams in action Thursday
| 1 |  |
| at Portland, 9 p.m. | ESPN+ -- Gonzaga is biding its time until it gets another crack at Saint Mary's. Losing to Portland might make that game irrelevant. | |
| 2 |  |
| vs. Michigan, 9 p.m. | FS1, fuboTV (Try for free) -- Northwestern is back at home sweet home to face the last-place Wolverines. The Wildcats picked up a road win at Indiana last time out, which is not as impressive as it should be, but Northwestern will take any road win it can get. Tonight's test is one it cannot afford to fail. | |
| 3 |  |
| at Stanford, 11 p.m. | ESPN2, fuboTV (Try for free) -- This is the first of three out of four on the road for the Ducks. The last of those games is at Arizona, but they have to win the others, too. Oregon's resume is soft in the quality win department, but it has all the quad 2 -- and worse -- losses it can handle. | |
NCAA Tournament locks
Locks based on resume: 11 | Bids secured: 0 | At-large spots remaining: 21
| Conference | Locks | Teams |
|---|---|---|
ACC | 2 | Duke, North Carolina |
Big East | 2 | UConn, Marquette |
Big Ten | 1 | |
Big 12 | 4 | |
Pac-12 | 1 | |
SEC | 1 | |
American | 0 | |
Others | 0 |
Near the cut line
| First 4 Out | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Butler | 16-11 | 61 |
 | Texas A&M | 15-11 | 50 |
| Oregon | 17-8 | 63 |
 | Cincinnati | 16-10 | 45 |
| Next 4 Out | Team | Record | NET |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Seton Hall | 17-9 | 65 |
 | Wake Forest | 17-9 | 26 |
 | Providence | 17-9 | 60 |
 | Iowa | 16-11 | 62 |
Note – all references to NCAA Tournament selection records and trends based on NET rankings excludes the 2021 tournament. Due to shortened schedules and a relatively small number of non-conference games, those rankings are not reliable enough to be considered.
