And for more welcome in CBS sports Bracketologist Jerry palm. And back here with CBS sports senior writer Matt Norlander. Here to talk winners and losers. Jerry, we start with you. Who helped their tournament resume the most on this Saturday? I think it has to be Vanderbilt who beat Mizzou came back to beat them at home. They’ve been very good on their home floor, but they did win at Texas A&M, I believe. Anyways, that’s their fifth quad one win. They’ve built up a decent record now. I think I’m comfortable
taking Vanderbilt off the bubble. I had five SEC bubble teams and they’ve been the highest of them and the one in the least danger. But now I think Vanderbilt, if they don’t go completely sideways, it’s going to be safely in the tournament. You know I’m going to go with Iowa State. It had a no doubt about it. Win wire to wire at home over Arizona. You know Keyshawn Gilbert came back wasn’t a huge factor in the game. But 8467 over the 22nd ranked Wildcats. How about this? I was at the only game this
season that Iowa State lost when it was at full strength. And it just so happened to be the Auburn Tigers in Maui. And Iowa State actually held a 17 point lead and then subsequently blew that 17 point lead against Bruce Pearl’s Tigers out there in Maui at the end of November. But other than that, yeah, there’s been some disappointing losses here and there, but that’s the only time Iowa State has been beaten with every good, healthy player available. It hadn’t been more than a month. You’d have to
actually go back to mid January, the last time that Iowa State beat a projected NCAA tournament team, that was Kansas. And then finally they get off the schneid. They get a good home win, no doubt about it. Good for the vibes for the cyclones taking care of business against Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats and reminding us why they should still be considered a viable Final Four threat. Starting to get healthy at the perfect time here on the first day of March. Iowa State 15 and one at home this season. As for who
disappointed you the most, Jerry? Who is your biggest loser here on this first Saturday in March? Well, it’s definitely got to be Texas. I mean, Texas was a no show at home against Georgia in a game they desperately had to have. In fact, both of these teams desperately had to have it. Only one of them played like they desperately had to have it. And that’s now two no shows in three games for Texas. And they’re just they’re I don’t know how they’re going to make the tournament at this point because they have gone so far
bad. They’re going to have to win games that, you know, in the conference tournament, maybe multiple games in the conference tournament just to get a good enough record and resume and record against good teams to be considered for this thing now. So yeah, Texas has just been baffling in and not just losing, but losing how they did to South Carolina and Georgia. Yeah, well, I’ve got another SEC team that had a putrid performance. Also a huge loser, no doubt about it. Arkansas 7253 a loss on the road to a South Carolina
team that had one win in SEC play coming into the day. The SEC is a loaded league. We understand that. You got to have teams that finish 15th and 16th in the 16 team league, but goodness Arkansas Bubble Supreme kind of team and allow Colin Murray to put up the kind of tape that could ensure he gets taken in the lottery. That is the one been the one bright spot for South Carolina this season. Colin Murray has been just an incredible two way player. Where is the urgency John Calipari and the Razorbacks now? They’ve got
they’ve got time to make it up. Time is running out. We’ve only got one more week. Slash two more games in the regular season until the SEC tournament. So all hope is not lost for Arkansas. But it was stunning to see just how poorly they I mean, the first half was borderline setting anemic offensive records ever for a Calipari coached team for Arkansas in a number of decades. I was stunned by just how poorly they looked in what needed to be a game of much more urgency. Akeem entered the day as an 11 seed, according to
Jerry, and not helping their case, certainly with a massive loss on the road. 15 days until selection Sunday. Jerry Tennessee, fighting to get on the one line, beat Alabama at the buzzer. What did that win mean for the volunteers? Yeah, what a comeback in a short span there. Four points down very late in that game for Tennessee. It means that they will be a one seed in the bracket I post tomorrow. They’ll move up Alabama will move down, Houston will move up a spot. So Tennessee will actually be
fourth overall. Houston will be third, Alabama will be fifth. And I expect more shuffling to go on among that group of teams. Because you’ve got Auburn number one. You’ve got Florida right behind it. Number six. So yeah it’s I don’t think we’re done with with shuffling the deck with these teams in particular. But at least for now Tennessee is back on the top line where they started at one point in my brackets. Yeah. Thanks to Tennessee’s win and Auburn’s road win at Kentucky, the Tigers clinched the outright SEC title.
Jerry with 16 quad one wins, did Auburn lock up the overall number one seed on this day? Yeah, I don’t see how Duke passes them just because Duke doesn’t have the schedule. I mean Duke beat them. So you know they’ve got that going for them. But all Duke can do is just beat the crap out of whoever happens to be in front of them, as just to show that they’re still that much better than everybody else in their league, but they just can’t put together a resume in the ACC this year that threatens Auburn’s record. Yeah, 16 quad
one wins, six more than the next closest team being Tennessee and Alabama. They locked it up, according to Jerry. I would have to agree. Time now for Norlander’s notes. Matt, what do you have for us? Just a few things from the day on Saturday. Jerry had mentioned that Texas was among the biggest losers. Hard to argue with that. Let’s look forward here, because Rodney Terry’s future at Texas is very much in doubt and checking with sources this week. And really, as the season has gone along here, the
understanding among the people I’ve talked to in the industry and around that program is that Texas is going to need a huge push into the tournament. First of all, they have to make the tournament. They’re not even assured of that. And then even getting there doesn’t look like that will be enough. Rodney Terry was able to win this job when he was the interim head coach two years ago, got Texas all the way to the Elite eight here. It’s looking like he’s going to need to have another huge, huge March push in order
to avoid seeing a job change over there. Chris Del Conte, the athletic director obviously, and rightfully so, sees that job as a gem by many. It’s considered one of the top ten jobs in the country. They’ve got a brand new facility, a relatively new, haven’t made a lot of noise with it. Just keep an eye on that. I think there could be some potential change afoot coming later this month. Item two also in the SEC, Jackson Robinson for Kentucky. He’s out for the rest of the season. His college career is over. He had a wrist
injury. He returned in the game against Oklahoma earlier this week for the Wildcats and then injured it in that game. He didn’t play, obviously. On Saturday. Mark Pope confirmed with the media afterward that Robinson is done. I actually think this could potentially make Kentucky an even more ripe victim for an early March Madness upset. Robinson was the second leading scorer for the Wildcats, and he really did. Offensively, he did a bunch of different stuff for Mark Pope’s offense. Not having him, I think
is a pretty big knock overall. And also keep in mind, Mark Pope, for as much as Kentucky has done this year, has almost as many notable top 15 wins as all but a few other teams in the entire sport. Defensively, this team is ranked 66th in the country, and Pope has never won an NCAA tournament game as a coach. Keep that in mind. I got one more for you. It’s on the Xavier Musketeers out of the Big East. I actually think the Big East is going to wind up getting five teams into March Madness. You’ve got UConn, which was able
to not mess around against Providence on Saturday. We know the likes of Saint John’s. It’s ruling over the Big East. Marquette didn’t have any issue with with Georgetown. It’s well on its way. And Creighton, which is a bit of a mystery team overall, obviously well positioned. I think Xavier is going to get there. Xavier has been able to get hot as of late five in a row. It’s a top ten team overall in three point accuracy. You can see the resume here entering on Saturday. Keep that in mind according to the
palm projection. Xavier got the home win against Creighton. I talked to the staff on Friday. Going into this game, they knew just how significant this this matchup was and getting a win was for their overall resume. Now they could use a certainly one more big time win. And I think they’re going to get in the Big East tournament because they’ve beaten UConn. They’ve beaten Marquette now they’ve beaten Creighton. They were swept by Saint John’s. The final two games are definitely doable at Butler home to Providence. So
this is a projection. I expect Xavier to win its next two to win its first game in the Big East tournament. And I think if and when that happens, if they can win three more in a row, it’ll be enough to get them into the field and the Big East. Remember Jerry Hakim last year? Very controversial for the big for Big East folks only sent three to the big dance. They’re definitely going to beat that number this year. I think they beat it by two. I think they wind up with five. Jerry, you had Xavier as a last four in
entering the day. What did that win over Creighton mean in terms of their bubble status? Well, they were actually the last team in. So obviously you know a win over Creighton helps. It’s actually a quad two win because it was at home. And Creighton is not in the top 30 of the net at the moment. But yeah it’s still a quality win. That’s an NCAA tournament team. They need that. They need to have as many NCAA tournament quality wins as they can get. They’re done with that until the conference tournament,
but if they can get one more in the conference tournament, I’m with Matt. I think they’re going to be on the right end of things, but they have to win all the way through that point. The March Madness is officially underway 15 days until Selection Sunday. Jerry Palm, Matt Norlander here with us on CBS sports HQ. Thank you. And coming up on Sunday on CBS. Two big games in the Big Ten. First at 130 eastern ranked on ranked number 11. Wisconsin visiting number eight Michigan State. Following that game, it’s 15th
ranked Michigan hosting Illinois Spartans and Wolverines tied atop the standings in the Big Ten. You can also watch the action streami
