With Northwestern sitting squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble, it's time for a new daily feature, in which I take a look at every game relevant to Northwestern's NCAA chances and tell you whom you should be rooting for.
Major conference tournaments start today, meaning lots of bubble games every day for a while. Yet oddly, the most important bubble game today is in the Ivy League.
DePaul Blue Demons vs. Connecticut Huskies (-10), 11 AM central, ESPN2
Team to root for: DePaul
Big East tournament first round. DePaul, despite finishing last in the Big East, showed some heart over the weekend by annihilating Seton Hall. UConn is in decent NCAA shape as of now but can't afford a bad loss.
Providence Friars vs. Seton Hall Pirates (-6), 6 central, ESPNU
Team to root for: Providence
I'm done with you, Seton Hall. You were supposed to be an RPI Top 50 win, Seton Hall. You beat Georgetown, storm the court, look like a lock NCAA team, and then you lie down and lose at home to Rutgers and get clowned at DePaul? That's it, we're through. Take a forced walk of shame, and if you want any of your stuff back, it'll be outside in the cold. That's right, Seton Hall, I've changed the locks.
Jokes aside, Seton Hall would need to win two games minimum in the Big East tournament to get back into the RPI top 50 and I think at this point it's better for NU for them to suffer a third straight horrible loss and fall below the cut line.
George Washington Colonials at Dayton Flyers (-9.5), 6 central, no TV
Team to root for: George Washington
Atlantic 10 tournament first round. Dayton needs to make a run in this tournament to get an at-large bid.
Charlotte 49ers at St. Joseph's Hawks (-9), 6 central, no TV
Team to root for: Charlotte
Another A10 first round game. Saint Joe's is in a similar position to Dayton. Blow a kiss to Diego Guevara's wife should Charlotte pull the upset.
Penn Quakers at Princeton Tigers (-4), 6:30 central, no TV
Team to root for: Princeton
We've reached drudge siren alert status in the Ivy League. Harvard, who is likely in the NCAAs regardless, has clinched a share of the Ivy League title. Remember, the Ivy League doesn't have a conference tournament and awards the auto-bid to its regular season champion. Anyways, Penn is a half game out of first place and with a win tonight forces a one game playoff with Harvard for the auto-bid. A one-game playoff is bad: if Penn wins it, the Ivy could get two teams instead of one. Go Tigers, back cut them to death. Do us a solid please, Mitch Henderson.