Bracketology & bubble watch 2023: What Feb 16 results mean for Purdue, Maryland, Florida Atlantic, Arizona State

If you're a fan of a team squarely on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament or battling better seeding in March, there are relevant matchups to track every day through Selection Sunday. The field will be released on March 12th. Below is a look at some of Thursday night's college hoops fallout in terms of what it means for bracketology. We'll use Joe Lunardi's Friday morning update at ESPN.

Key games for bracketology

The biggest win of the night came from the Maryland Terrapins, which knocked off the Purdue Boilermakers at home. The Terps are a No. 7 seed in the latest update without a bad loss all season as all of them came against Quad 1 opponents. As for Purdue, the Boilermakers started the season 22-1 before losing three of their last four games including two in a row. They are still slotted as a No. 1 seed with four regular season contests to get things back on track heading into the Big Ten Tournament.

The Florida Atlantic Owls still appear to be in good shape to make the NCAA Tournament even as an at-large team, but they cannot afford many losses playing in Conference USA. After losing for the second time in its last five games the Owls dropped to a No. 10 seed in the latest bracket, and the NET rankings love FAU. It's rated 22nd following Thursday's results, but more losses would impact it more than most teams potentially on the bubble over the next few weeks.

Bubble Watch

The Arizona State Sun Devils were barely hanging on to their bubble status and could not afford a Colorado Buffaloes team that is two games below .500 in Pac-12 play. Arizona State was listed in the “next four out” category heading into the day, so the Sun Devils need wins down the stretch to get back into NCAA Tournament contention. They have a great opportunity to add quality victories with the Utah Utes, Arizona Wildcats, UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans remaining on the regular season schedule.

  
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