Women: The time is now for bubble teams on the outside looking in

Women’s Bracketology: 2024 NCAA tournamentBy Charlie Creme Updated: 2/9/2024 at 9:25 a.m. ET

We will project the field of 68 every Tuesday and Friday from now until Selection Sunday on March 17. Albany, New York, and Portland, Oregon, will host the regionals, as the two-site format remains for a second consecutive year. It all culminates in Cleveland at the Final Four on April 5 and 7.

Bracket WatchThe bubble has remained relatively stagnant the last two weeks. Despite plenty of losing by the teams on the right side of the bubble — Michigan on Wednesday and Tennessee and Vanderbilt on Thursday — little movement into or out of the field has occurred. Normally a loss would drop them out, but not this time. Why? For one team to fall, another must take its place. Right now, those teams don’t exist. Minnesota has lost five in a row. Maryland and Washington have each dropped four of five games. Atlantic 10 contenders Richmond and George Mason are a combined 0-4 against the NET top 50. Cal played USC tough on Sunday but hasn’t won since Jan. 21. With so many of the SEC bubble teams taking turns knocking off each other, openings are there to sneak into the field. But to this point, no one is walking through.

On the Bubble68-Team BracketAlbany 1ColumbiaSpokaneLos AngelesColumbusPortland 4 RaleighManhattanBaton RougeBoulderAlbany 2Iowa CityBlacksburgStorrsLos AngelesPortland 3StanfordBloomingtonLouisvilleAustinConference BreakdownPhoto illo by ESPN Illustration, additional photos courtesy of Getty Images, Associated Press, Imagn, Icon Sportswire, EPA/Shutterstock