Commentary

Behind the Bracket: Bubble bids

Middling teams from major conferences have a home in the bracket, but should they?

Updated: January 25, 2010, 4:53 PM ET

By Joe Lunardi | ESPN Insider

Check out the following team profiles:

TEAM A: InsideRPI No. 81, 4-3 conference record, LunaRPI No. 96 (road/neutral), 1-3 vs. Top 50.

TEAM B: InsideRPI No. 48, 4-4 conference record, LunaRPI No. 116 (road/neutral), 2-5 vs. Top 50.

TEAM C: InsideRPI No. 73, 1-3 conference record, LunaRPI No. 196 (road/neutral), 2-6 vs. Top 50.

The teams in question are Arizona State (A), Cincinnati (B) and North Carolina (C). What they have in common are places in our latest bracket. And fairly comfortable ones, at least for now.

I could make equal cases for or against these and many other teams in the current field. Same for those on the outside looking in such as Florida, Seton Hall and Louisville. So we can agree that the bubble is rather soft. Where many would differ is on what to do about it.

Historically, the selection committee has thrown a few curveballs in times like these. What I would like to see, instead of more .500-type teams from major conferences, are demonstrated worthy teams from outside the BCS conferences.

Let's handicap those chances (with my best guess and "odds" in parentheses):

To see which mid-major conferences may be able to grab multiple bids and which upcoming games will highlight the next week with potential bracket impact, you must be an ESPN Insider.