UPDATED: March 12, 2017 at 3:05 p.m.

Syracuse enters Selection Sunday sitting on the bubble. The Orange (18-14, 10-8 Atlantic Coast) has the most distinct résumé of any team on the fringe of the NCAA Tournament. The Tournament is made up of 32 conference champions receiving automatic bids and the next 36 “best” teams. In order to judge “best,” the selection committee will parse through the following résumés before the bracket is announced at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Based on most bracket projections, the selection committee will have likely be choosing five teams for three spots.

The below stats are based on the NCAA’s nitty-gritty report and team sheets with results as of games through Saturday night.

Syracuse (18-4, 10-8 ACC)
RPI rank: 84
Strength of schedule: 64
Nonconference record: 8-5 (188 nonconference RPI rank)
Nonconference strength of schedule: 215
Road record: 2-8
Vs. RPI Top 50: 6-8
Vs. RPI 51-100: 2-1
Vs. RPI 101-200: 4-4
Vs. RPI 200-plus: 6-1

Southern California (24-9, 10-8 Pac-12)
RPI rank: 41
Strength of schedule: 75
Nonconference record: 13-0 (9 nonconference RPI rank)
Nonconference strength of schedule: 140
Road record: 6-5
Vs. RPI Top 50: 2-6
Vs. RPI 51-100: 4-2
Vs. RPI 101-200: 7-1
Vs. RPI 200-plus: 11-0

Kansas State (20-13, 8-10 Big 12)
RPI rank: 57
Strength of schedule: 42
Nonconference record: 11-2 (53 nonconference RPI rank)
Nonconference strength of schedule: 237
Road record: 6-6
Vs. RPI Top 50: 4-9
Vs. RPI 51-100: 2-2
Vs. RPI 101-200: 8-2
Vs. RPI 200-plus: 6-0

Illinois State (27-6, 17-1 Missouri Valley)
RPI rank: 33
Strength of schedule: 123
Nonconference record: 7-4 (102 nonconference RPI rank)
Nonconference strength of schedule: 159
Road record: 9-4
Vs. RPI Top 50: 1-2
Vs. RPI 51-100: 1-2
Vs. RPI 101-200: 13-1
Vs. RPI 200-plus: 10-1

Wake Forest (19-13, 9-9 ACC)
RPI rank: 39
Strength of schedule: 21
Nonconference record: 9-3 (10 nonconference RPI rank)
Nonconference strength of schedule: 15
Road record: 6-8
Vs. RPI Top 50: 3-10
Vs. RPI 51-100: 5-3
Vs. RPI 101-200: 5-0
Vs. RPI 200-plus: 6-0

An earlier version of this story had Rhode Island listed as one of the bubble teams. URI won the Atlantic-10 Tournament and therefore received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

Published on March 12, 2017 at 12:20 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds