We’ve reached ‘Sweaty Saturday’ for the programs on the bubble heading into tomorrow’s selection show.

Oklahoma’s loss in the SEC Tournament was great news for bubble teams yesterday, but Chris Beard’s Ole Miss Rebels stay alive with a chance to shock everybody by winning more games in the SEC Tournament (5) than they did in the entirety of the SEC regular season (4).

Beyond Ole Miss, Dayton and San Diego State look to be the two biggest thieves still breathing, with San Diego State one win away from punching a ticket.

Dayton will attempt to defeat Saint Louis for the second time in three weeks, while the Aztecs have a chance to vault themselves from the First Four to the field with a Mountain West title by defeating Utah State.

The threat of three bid stealers is not great news for the likes of VCU – The Rams are still alive in the A-10 Tournament, SMU, Texas, and Auburn.

At the end of the day the adjective to describe this month is madness, and it’s hard to envision a world where at least one of these bid stealers doesn’t advance.

First Four Out: Auburn, Oklahoma, New Mexico,

• Auburn has spent the last few days pleading their at-large case across social media. As you’d expect the comment sections have been very respectful. The Tigers have done enough to gather the team in Neville Arena to watch the Selection Show, but that will likely end in a sad walk to Little Italy for some soggy pizza.
• New Mexico lost to San Diego State in the Mountain West semi’s, making it hard to envision a world where the Lobos get in over the Aztecs.
• Oklahoma played great basketball down the stretch but suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Arkansas in the SEC Tournament. The committee has preached that they take into account a full body of work, and Oklahoma’s isn’t good enough to receive a bid unfortunately.

• Last Four In: SMU, VCU, Texas, San Diego State

• San Diego State is our last team in the field after earning a trip to the Mountain West championship. If the Aztecs beat Utah State in the Championship, one of our teams safely in the field will fall to the bubble.
• SMU ended it’s season losing five of its final six games. The Mustangs have a good enough overall body of work, but they left the door wide open for bid stealers and the bubble teams in the SEC.
• Texas lost its SEC Tournament opener to Ole Miss and has now lost five of six games after seemingly securing their place in the NCAA Tournament with a five game win streak before that. The Longhorns are still safer than SMU.
• If VCU takes down Saint Joe’s today the Rams will have avoided a bad loss in the Atlantic 10 Tournament and should have a bid on Selection Sunday barring any bid stealers. Of course, a win over either Dayton or Saint Louis in the Championship game would be the cleanest way to go dancing.

16 seeds: Siena*, Long Island*/Howard*, Lehigh*, Southern*/Idaho*

15 seeds: Queens*, Furman*, Tennessee State*, UMBC*

14 seeds: UC Irvine*, Wright State*, LA Tech*, Troy*

13 seeds: North Dakota State*, Cal Baptist*, Hofstra*, Yale*

12 seeds: McNeese*, Northern Iowa*, Akron*, High Point*

11 seeds: Santa Clara, USF*, Texas/VCU, San Diego State/SMU

10 seeds: NC State, Miami (OH), Missouri, UCF

9 seeds: TCU, St. Mary’s, UCLA, Ohio State

8 seeds: Clemson, Utah State*, Georgia, Texas A&M

7 seeds: Iowa, Miami (FL), Kentucky, Villanova

6 seeds: Tennessee, BYU, Louisville, Wisconsin

5 seeds: Alabama, North Carolina, St. John’s, Arkansas

4 seeds: Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, Kansas, Nebraska

3 seeds: Illinois, Purdue, Gonzaga*, Virginia

2 seeds: UConn *(5) , Iowa State* (6), Houston (7), Michigan State (8)

1 seeds: Duke* (1) , Arizona* (2), Michigan* (3) , Florida* (4)

*conference champion