Bubble Bursting

It may have been a case of professorial college basketball knowledge (my vote) or maybe just punch-drunkenness (Dick Jerardi's vote), but when it came down to picking the final few teams to make our mock bracket, bubbles had to be burst. And the final four teams that were so close to dancing at our party but will be left sitting on the sidelines were New Mexico, Illinois, South Carolina and Auburn.

Here's the breakdown:

Although it has gone 10-2 in its last 12 games, New Mexico (21-10) was hurt because 16 of its 21 wins came against teams with an RPI ranking over 100. Sure your conference hurts you sometimes, but that's the way it goes (and the committee being in a stuffy room at the Daily News for more than 3 hours didn't help the Lobos' cause).

Although Illinois State (24-9) plays its home games at Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena, we couldn't give it a nod, despite the local tie. The Redbirds have dropped four of their last six, including a 14-point loss to Niagara, which also didn't make our list. (Which shows our honesty, being as Philly guy Joe Mihalich is the head coach at Niagara and some kid named Phil Martelli Jr. is an assistant).

As for South Carolina (21-8), here it is just a few hours after we finished this crusade, and I really can't remember why the Gamecocks got nixed. I think it was because Mike Kern had a bad experience in South Carolina 20 years ago. What sticks out now is its mediocre 48 RPI and the fact the Gamecocks were 1-5 against top 50 teams in the RPI.

A couple of quick facts doomed Auburn (21-10). The first was its 64 RPI ranking, followed closely by its 5-9 record against teams in the top 100 in the RPI. Another was because the pizza was running low and Fran Dunphy and Phil Martelli weren't paying attention while fighting over the last slice of sausage. Blame this one on Kern, if you must.