Today On The Bubble

On Thursday, Florida was in the tournament. When they defeated Auburn, Billy Donovan was seen grabbing assistant Larry Shyatt, as if finally the Gators were back in the NCAAs.

Friday night, Mississippi State knocked the Gators down a peg, but hey! UF beat Michigan State and Tennessee, so the Gators were good. Then, Houston defeated UTEP for the CUSA bid on Saturday, bouncing one at-large bid. Washington won the Pac-10, making that league a two bid league with regular season winner California. Minnesota destroyed Purdue after defeating Michigan St., moving into the Big Ten final. Illinois, who almost defeated Ohio State in the other Big Ten semifinal, can now boast a 5-9 record against the RPI top-50. UF is 3-8 against those teams. Minnesota can make a strong case for an NCAA bid, even if they lose today to Ohio St. 

Today, Florida will watch Mississippi St. play Kentucky, with the Bulldogs believing that only a win can get them an NCAA bid. Miss State has been here before, winning the 2009 SEC Tournament to clinch a bid. Plus they have already took Kentucky to overtime this season. Not including today's game, the Bulldogs have won 7 of 10 games. If the Gators were not already out, Mississippi State winning today will put the final nail in the Gators' coffin. The people who are paid to know this stuff already have the Gators out.

We will have a live blog beginning at 5pm, so we can all share in the misery if UF is NIT-bound. Again.