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With Selection Sunday just a few days away, here's the latest as the NCAA Tournament's field of 68 is built
Mar 13, 2026 at 1:04 am ET • 1 min read
Oklahoma passed SMU as the last team in the CBS Sports Bracketology field of 68 on Thursday night after beating Texas A&M 83-63 in the second round of the SEC Tournament. The victory improved the Sooners to 19-14 and set the stage for a quarterfinal showdown with Arkansas on Friday night that could determine OU's final fate.
OU's rise to serious NCAA Tournament consideration seemed impossible in early February. The Sooners have won eight of their past 10 games since a nine-game losing streak early in SEC play.
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After that prolonged stretch of ineptitude, Oklahoma ranked 96th nationally in Wins Above Bubble (WAB) with -3.73 score. But after taking down the Aggies in convincing fashion at Bridgestone Arena, the Sooners are expected to wake up with a WAB ranking in the 40s on Friday and with a score of around 0, which is indicative of how OU is now the epitome of a bubble team after rattling off a series of victories over projected tournament teams.
SEC peer Auburn was one of Thursday's big losers. The Tigers had a chance to play themselves firmly onto the right side of the bubble with a win over Tennessee, but they couldn't hold on to a 10-point lead in the second half. Thus, Auburn will likely need some help and some grace from the selection committee to make the field.
Selection Sunday is just three days away, and the race for the spots in the 2026 NCAA Tournament field is nearing its conclusion. Teams had four months to build their resumes and position themselves for optimum seeding, but these next few days offer the chance at a final impression.
We're tracking all the Bracketology madness here.
Resetting the bubble heading into Friday
With Oklahoma's 83-63 win over Texas A&M, the Sooners have — for now — replaced SMU as the last team in the field of 68. As it pertains to the bubble, the games to watch on Friday will be in the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West, specifically with VCU. The Rams must avoid a loss to Duquesne in the A10 quarterfinals, or else they could slide and open the door back up for teams currently on the outside looking in.
Among those teams are San Diego State and New Mexico, who are trying to make noise in the Mountain West Tournament. As for OU, a win over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals would be strongly advised.
LAST FOUR IN: Santa Clara, Mizzou, VCU, Oklahoma
FIRST FOUR OUT: SMU, Auburn, New Mexico, Seton Hall
Winners and Losers from Thursday's action
The Duke-Florida State thriller was one of several conference tournament games on Thursday with serious bubble implications. Here's the rundown of Bracketology-oriented winners and losers from the day's action as Selection Sunday creeps closer.
Bracketology winners and losers: Duke pops Florida State's bubble, UConn stays in No. 1 seed debate
Florida State falls just short in bubble surge
Final: Duke 80, Florida State 79
Florida State came so close to becoming one of March's best stories, but the Seminoles fell 80-79 after Robert McCray V's last-second 3-point attempt missed the mark. The Seminoles would have surged into at-large consideration with a win, but they won't make the NCAA Tournament at 18-15. Nonetheless, a good late-season push from FSU under first-year coach Luke Loucks.
Duke will remain the No. 1 overall seed — for now — in CBS Sports Bracketology after squeaking out the win. Playing without Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II, the Blue Devils employed just a 7-man rotation. But Isaiah Evans was awesome, finishing with 32 points in 39 minutes.
Duke in trouble at ACC Tournament
Duke trails Florida State 44-43 at halftime in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils are currently the No. 1 overall seed in CBS Sports Bracketology but would fall to the No. 3 overall seed behind Michigan and Arizona with a loss. The Blue Devils are playing without starters Caleb Foster and Patrick Ngongba II, who are both out due to injury.
This game is huge for Florida State, too, as the Seminoles would enter the at-large discussion with a victory. FSU has won 10 of its past 12 games following an 8-12 start.
Resetting where the Last Four in/First Four Out stand in CBS Sports Bracketology end as the evening window of conference tournament action begins. SMU is the beneficiary of Auburn's loss, as the Mustangs have risen back to into the field for now.
Santa Clara**Missouri** | lost 78-72 vs. Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament on ThursdayVCU | plays Friday in Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinalsSMU** (last team in)
Auburn** | lost 72-62 vs. Tennessee in the second round of the SEC Tournament on ThursdayOklahoma | plays at 9:30 pm. ET vs. Texas A&MNew Mexico | plays at 11:30 p.m. ET vs. San Jose State (CBS Sports Network)Seton Hall | beat Creighton 72-61 in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday
Auburn's at-large hopes could be in trouble
SEC Tournament: Tennessee 72, Auburn 62
With 1:10 remaining in the first half, Auburn stretched its lead to 11 points over Tennessee on Thursday in the second round of the SEC Tournament. For almost 30 minutes, Auburn was in control before Tennessee went on a 21-0 run to take the lead back for good, and potentially end Auburn's hopes for an at-large berth.
According to CBS Sports' latest Bracketology model/projections, Auburn will drop to the "First Four Out" following the loss. The Tigers were one of the "Last Four In" as a No. 11 seed entering the day. Our model gives Auburn a 40% chance of receiving an at-large berth to the Big Dance.
Auburn is now 17-16. If the Tigers are selected, it would mark the most losses by an at-large team in the history of the tournament.
It can be easy to get lost in the sea of metrics, acronyms and analytics-based services that start flying around the college basketball universe this time of year. On official team sheets used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, there are a whopping seven metrics, all with some sort of shorthand abbreviation.
If you only have the bandwidth to master one before Selection Sunday, consider learning Wins Above Bubble. Introduced officially last season to the NCAA Tournament selection process, WAB is a resume-based metric rapidly becoming a staple of the college hoops lexicon.
Why college basketball fans should master Wins Above Bubble: WAB is new factor in NCAA Tournament selection
Seton Hall creeps closer to the cut-line with Big East quarterfinal victory over Creighton
Seton Hall is staying in the fight while the rest of its bubble compadres collapse. The Pirates outlasted Creighton, 72-61, in the Big East quarterfinals to improve to 21-11. The win earned Seton Hall approximately +0.33 in Wins Above Bubble. Seton Hall will jump from 57th in WAB to No. 50 nationally with a -0.40 WAB overall. The cut-line -- historically in the mid-40s -- is within reach.
Seton Hall is still out of the projected field, but Thursday's win inches it ever closer. A win over top-seeded St. John's in Friday's semifinals could catapult Seton Hall above the morass.
