USC Trojans cling to final at-large berth 

March, 12, 2011
03/12/11
7:01
PM ET

UPDATED: Saturday, March 12, 7 p.m. ET

This edition of "Bracket Math" includes all games through Saturday, March 12, 6 p.m. ET. Rankings reflect an up-to-date S-Curve from yours truly, posing as one hypothetical member of the NCAA men's basketball committee.

There are a few remaining questions heading into Saturday's later games:

• How should we separate the ACC bubble teams (Clemson Tigers, Virginia Tech Hokies and Boston College Eagles)?

• Are the Penn State Nittany Lions really in the field after knocking off the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan State Spartans back-to-back?

• Can the USC Trojans hold the final at-large spot (the Utah State Aggies and Dayton Flyers will have the most to say about that, as it turns out)?

• Is it bracket suicide to leave both the Alabama Crimson Tide and Georgia Bulldogs out of the projected field?

• Can the ACC tournament winner be a No. 1 seed? If so, who drops?

The S-curve

*: Clinched regular-season title and NIT automatic bid if needed
Bold: Projected conference winners (highest remaining conference tournament seed)
CAPS and BOLD: Clinched automatic bid
GREEN: Teams with tourney odds of 90 percent or better through games of March 11.
YELLOW: "Last four in" (will play March 15-16 in Dayton, Ohio)
GOLD: Lowest four auto-bids (will play March 15-16 in Dayton, Ohio)
RED: "First four out" (teams 69-72 on the S-curve)


To see a full breakdown of the S-curve as it stands today and get an early glimpse of the bubble, plus get access to all of Insider's NCAA content to prepare your bracket for the NCAA tournament, sign up for ESPN Insider today.

Joe Lunardi | email

Senior Writer, ESPN.com
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