N.C. State, Minnesota on bubble for Big Dance

1. Bubbling up

There are only four weeks to go before Selection Sunday and the NCAA tournament bubble is getting quite crowded. Our favorite bracketeers, Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com and Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com, provided fresh conjecture on selections Friday, and both have Minnesota and North Carolina State among their last four teams in. But they differ on Miami and Northwestern (Lunardi both out, Palm both in) and on Texas (Lunardi in, Palm out). Other teams that shouldn't make hotel reservations just yet are Colorado State and Washington.

2. The falling Murrays?

Murray State heard a ton of speculation about its tournament fate after becoming the last team to fall from the unbeaten ranks Thursday night. The thought is, should the Racers lose their Bracketbuster matchup on Feb. 18 against St. Mary's, and then not win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, their NCAA status would be in doubt. But Lunardi said Friday on SportsCenter that he doubted whether Murray State's RPI would fall enough in the event of two losses to eliminate them from the field of 68.

3. Mr. Clutch

So how incredible was that finish to Wednesday night's Duke-North Carolina game? With his father, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers, watching from behind the Duke bench at the Dean Smith Center, freshman Austin Rivers waited . . . and waited . . . and then drilled a three-point basket at the buzzer to give the Blue Devils an 85-84 win. Twitter was ablaze in debate after the game on where this ranked on the all-time list of battles between the Tobacco Road rivals. But we'll listen to an expert, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, who said, "For me, that's one of the best ones." The two meet again March 3 at Cameron.

4. Fighting – to hang on

It has been two months since Cincinnati and Xavier engaged in an ugly brawl at the end of their annual rivalry game, and life hasn't been the same for Musketeers star guard Tu Holloway since. "I think (the incident) took some of the life out of me," Holloway told Dana O'Neil of ESPN.com. "I know I need to get it back. I just don't know how. I'm thinking too much. To be great, you have to play with emotion and passion. I'm trying." The Musketeers are 8-8 since Cincinnati but they are 7-3 in the Atlantic Ten, and can gain a share of first place in the conference with a win Saturday night over Temple at the Liacouras Center.

5. An Irish comeback