Bubble breakdown: Vanderbilt squanders huge lead, loses at buzzer
Adding to its already unassailable resume as the nation’s most disappointing team, Vanderbilt suffered its most painful loss of the season Tuesday night.
The Commodores squandered a 16-point second-half lead and fell 75-74 at Mississippi State on a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer by Quinndary Weatherspoon.
Vanderbilt’s loss drops the Commodores to 15-11 overall and 7-6 in the SEC. They have three decent home wins against Texas A&M, Florida and Alabama, but that’s not nearly enough to make up for a slew of losses against the likes of Arkansas, Ole Miss and now Mississippi State.
The bubble is weak enough that Vanderbilt still has slim hope of earning an NCAA tournament bid with a late-season surge, but there are no signs the Commodores can muster the consistency needed to make such a run. They might need to win as many of four of their last five regular season games, a stretch that includes a home game against Kentucky and visits to Florida and Texas A&M.
That Vanderbilt is in this position is very surprising considering all the talent the Commodores have.
When Vanderbilt won eight of its final 10 league games last season to reach the NIT, the Commodores appeared to be trending upward. They returned nearly every key player from that team this season including 7-foot NBA prospect Damian Jones, rapidly improving point guard Wade Baldwin IV and an array of shooters with which to surround them.
The anticipated step forward hasn’t happened yet. And now Vanderbilt is running out of time.
TUESDAY’S BUBBLE WINNERS
Butler (18-8, 7-7): Butler’s quest to recover from a 3-6 start to Big East play got a boost on Tuesday when the Bulldogs avoided a sweep at the hands of a fellow bubble team. Kelan Martin and Austin Etherington both hit four threes apiece to lead Butler to an 88-75 victory over Creighton. The Bulldogs remain right on track to finish around the NCAA tournament cutline. They have quality wins over Big Ten power Purdue and fellow bubble teams Creighton, Cincinnati and Seton Hall and they only have one bad loss at streaky Marquette. Butler has a huge opportunity at first-place Villanova this weekend and then games remaining against Georgetown, Seton Hall and Marquette. The Bulldogs probably need to win at least two of those to have a realistic shot at an NCAA tournament bid.
Other bubble winners: Valparaiso (defeated Cleveland State); Kansas State (defeated TCU); VCU (defeated Rhode Island); Pittsburgh (defeated Wake Forest); Florida (defeated Georgia)
TUESDAY’S BUBBLE LOSERS
Michigan (19-8, 9-5): Any Michigan fans who sat through Tuesday’s loss at Ohio State probably didn’t enjoy their experience all that much. Not only did the Wolverines fall against one of their hated rivals, they also did so without star Caris LeVert. The standout wing had returned from injury in Michigan’s previous game, but he was in too much pain to play against the Buckeyes and will be a gametime decision the rest of the year. Michigan would still be solidly in the NCAA tournament field were the season to end today, but the Wolverines do not have an easy remaining schedule. Out of home games against Northwestern and Iowa and road games at Maryland and Wisconsin, Michigan probably wants to go at least 2-2 to feel secure no matter what happens in the Big Ten tournament.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
