It's the mid-afternoon lull between the day and night sessions at the conference tournaments.
Here's the quick bubble-and-bracket overview before Friday night's games, which represent the five best hours of non-NCAA tournament action you'll see all year. This new bubble-and-bracket update is based on results over the past 22 hours, since our previous (Thursday afternoon) update:
ACC
BUBBLE
Florida State is almost certainly out. Maybe a fractional chance, nothing more.
Pittsburgh is now very much in the field of 68, even if you might think (with reason) that the Panthers' resume is thin. (The same is true of SMU and Iowa.)
ATLANTIC 10
BUBBLE
Saint Joseph's is very likely in, though the Hawks would want to take care of Saint Bonaventure tomorrow just to be sure. Had Saint Joe's faced Saint Louis, a win would not have been as essential to securing a spot in the field. Losing to the Bonnies would not be a "bad" loss in a true RPI sense, but it would be worse than a loss to Saint Louis.
Dayton is squarely on the bubble and will have a very, very long wait on Selection Sunday. The Flyers need the autobid/bubble situation to break their way in the next 48 hours. They're not alone in that regard.
BIG 12
BUBBLE
West Virginia is out.
BIG TEN
BUBBLE
Minnesota is still alive, squarely on the bubble, and needs to beat Wisconsin to have a better-than-even chance of making the field.
Nebraska faces a long wait, squarely on the bubble, though probably on the good side.
PAC-12
BUBBLE
Stanford should be in the field now, after its win over Arizona State.
California is squarely on the bubble, though probably on the good side.
SEC
BUBBLE
Arkansas is out. Beating South Carolina was merely a prelude to a play-out game against Tennessee.
Missouri is out following the loss to Florida.
Tennessee is squarely on the bubble and can firmly play its way into the field by beating Florida tomorrow.
OTHER BUBBLE TEAMS CURRENTLY PLAYING IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
Toledo (Mid-American) and Southern Mississippi (Conference USA) will fall into the bubble pool should they lose in the next 32 hours.
