It still won't be a completely comfortable Sunday afternoon for the Boise State men's basketball team, but its NCAA Tournament hopes got a nice boost Friday.
The Broncos (21-10, No. 44 RPI), on the bubble for their first-ever at-large NCAA berth, were helped out Friday as other bubble teams did nothing to help their fragile situations.
When play started Friday, ESPN's Joe Lunardi had Boise State as his first team out of the tournament, with Kentucky, La Salle, Virginia and Tennessee as his "last four in."
All four of those teams lost in their conference tournaments Friday - by at least 10 points.
On Friday evening, Lunardi had his "last four in'' as Boise State, La Salle, Middle Tennessee State and Ole Miss. CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm had the Broncos as an 11 seed in Kansas City against Pittsburgh. SI.com's Andy Glockner had the Broncos as an 11 seed against Virginia Commonwealth before the upheaval Friday.
Boise State will learn its NCAA fate at 4 p.m. Sunday on CBS. Though most of the teams that were in contention to grab one of the last at-large spots lost, the Broncos are still hoping teams such as Maryland (ACC) and Southern Miss (Conference USA) don't go from likely out of the NCAA field to conference champions, therefore earning one of the 31 automatic bids.
- Dave Southorn, Idaho Statesman
NCAA BUBBLE: KEY GAMES TO WATCH SATURDAY
*Southern Miss (25-8, No. 34 RPI) vs. Memphis, Conference USA final, 9:30 a.m., CBS
*Alabama (21-11, No. 62 RPI) vs. Florida, SEC semifinal, 11 a.m., ABC
*Maryland (22-11, No. 80 RPI) vs. North Carolina, ACC semifinal, 1 p.m., ESPN
*Mississippi (24-8, No. 56 RPI) vs. Vanderbilt, SEC semifinal, 1:30 p.m., ABC
*Massachusetts (21-10, No. 58 RPI) vs. VCU,Atlantic 10 semifinal, 2 p.m., CBSSN
* BSU wants team to lose
TITLE GAMES: SATURDAY'S REGIONAL BATTLES
Mountain West: New Mexico vs. UNLV, 4 p.m., CBS
Big Sky: Montana vs. Weber State, 7 p.m., ESPNU
Big West: UC Irvine vs. Pacific-Cal Poly, 8:30 p.m., ESPN2
Pac-12: UCLA vs. Oregon-Utah, 9 p.m., ESPN
WAC: New Mexico State vs. UT-Arlington, 9 p.m., ESPNU
