With selection Sunday only 6 days away, bubble teams across the nation are trying impress the NCAA Tournament committee as much as possible.
The Arizona State Sun Devils are no exception. Herb Sendek's squad needs a strong showing at this week's PAC-10 tournament at the Staples Center if they want to better their case for an At-Large bid to the dance. The Sun Devils finished regular season play with a 22-9 overall record and a 12-6 mark in the PAC-10. Not too shabby considering they lost the 3rd and 31st overall picks in last year's NBA draft. No wonder Herb Sendek was named the PAC-10 Coach of the Year today.
In any other season, a 12 win PAC-10 season combined with another 10 non-conference wins would get your foot in the tournament door with no problem. However, with the PAC's down year (currently zero teams ranked in the top 25), there is a chance that the only team partaking in this year's Madness will be the squad climbing the ladder with scissors next Saturday at the Staples Center.
Obviously if the Devils win three straight in LA they will be relaxing come next Sunday as the conference's automatic bid and PAC-10 Tournament Champions. But if they don't win the tourney I think they should still make it as an At-Large bid. I think the Devils' can get in by simply making it to the Championship game. This would mean the Devils would go 2-1 in LA and would finish with a 24-10 overall record, which in my opinion is plenty to receive an invite to the Big Dance. I'm no Bracketologist, nor do I want to be, but 24 wins in a big conference like the PAC-10 is a pretty good resume. Some of these other bubble teams have 17-18 wins this season and even though the PAC-10 is weak this year, it is still 10 times stronger than the Colonial League or the Big West.
If the Devils get to 24-10 and don't get an invite to the tourney it will be a definite snub, but if Derek Glasser and Co. really want ensure back-to-back tournament appearances... they know exactly what they need to do.
---J
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