Bracket Forecast: Virginia Tech, Oklahoma officially on 'bubble watch'

Published

Virginia Tech is playing its best basketball of the season on the biggest stage, and that could spell trouble for a number of other teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

After starting 2-7 in conference play, the Hokies closed out the ACC regular season by winning seven of their last nine games and entered the ACC Conference Tournament on a hot streak.

That hot streak has continued as Tech eked past Clemson in a first-round ACC Tournament game on Wednesday and then blitzed Notre Dame in a second-round clash on Thursday. With an upcoming matchup against North Carolina and a spot in the ACC Tournament Championship Game on the line, the Hokies are now listed as the second team out in FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy's latest NCAA Tournament projections.

As of Friday morning, DeCourcy lists Virginia Tech, Xavier, Virginia Commonwealth and Oklahoma in his "First Four Out" group, while Wake Forest, Southern Methodist, Wyoming and Indiana appear in his "Last Four In."

The Sooners also helped their NCAA Tournament chances on Thursday with a statement win over No. 3 Baylor. Porter Moser's team will take on No. 14 Texas Tech in a Big 12  Tournament semifinal game on Friday night. A victory there could propel the Sooners into the projected tournament field.

Auburn (27-5), Baylor (26-5), Arizona (29-3) and Gonzaga (26-3) remain atop their respective regions as No. 1 seeds in DeCourcy's projections, while Kansas (26-6), Duke (26-5), Kentucky (25-6) and Wisconsin (24-6) all command the two-seed for the third day in a row.

The Big Ten has the most representatives in DeCourcy's compilation, leading the way with nine teams, while the Big East, Big 12 and SEC all have six teams in the field. The ACC has five teams, while the Mountain West has four, and Pac-12, WCC and AAC boast three apiece.

Here's DeCoury's full breakdown: