And you thought the political season was taking a rest.
Not so. The bids for 68 NCAA men’s basketball tournaments slots are available.
This is political. That’s why if you haven’t heard of the term “bubble” and you are anyway connected with college basketball, you have really been outside the United States.
For my foreign readers, the team “bubble” refers to teams hoping to land a spot in the NCAA tournament. Frankly, they are at the mercy of the NCAA selection committee.
The national sports press daily updates fans with teams squarely on the bubble, those beyond the bubble (expected to get in the tournament) and those off the bubble. It creates fan interest but also high anxiety for the bubble teams.
Bubble teams are usually ones who has an average or above average conference record. They also have respectable overall marks with some quality wins and some bad losses.
With the NCAA tournament only a couple weeks away, you listen to lots of campaign speeches. You will hear conference coaches praising other teams in hopes their league will get more teams in the tournament or “Big Dance” as it’s called. Conference commissioners will provide a similar speech. I even heard a couple conference announcers tell their world how wonderful a few of their teams were. I thought to myself…please.
But the bottom line is if teams take care of business on the court, they will impress the selection committee and earn a bid.
Unfortunately, we will continue to hear about the bubble until we are bubbled out.
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