Resume builder

Minnesota 95, Iowa 89. This was easily the most important win for any bubble team on Tuesday night. The Golden Gophers (18-11, RPI 46) had looked anemic in their past two games, failing to break the 50-point mark in double-digit losses to Illinois and Ohio State. Then, against an Iowa team ranked 20th in the AP poll, they dropped in 51 points by halftime. Minnesota now has quality wins against Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State, which is a better trio of wins than most bubble teams can boast.

Blowing it

Georgia 71, Missouri 56. This was easily the worst loss for any bubble team on Tuesday night. The win for Georgia completed the season sweep of Missouri (19-9, RPI 45); for the Tigers, the loss continued a pattern of inconsistent play (to put it kindly) away from home. Georgia closed the first half on a 10-2 run over the last seven minutes, and the game was never close in the second half. The Bulldogs led by as many as 23 points before closing out a win that might end Mizzou’s chances of earning an at-large bid.

Wake Forest 62, Clemson 57. Clemson’s time on the periphery of the bubble conversation essentially ended Tuesday night with this loss to a Wake Forest team that lost by 33 points in its previous game. Clemson’s NCAA resume was anchored by a win against Duke, but other than a win against Florida State, there wasn’t much substance. This is the Tigers’ third loss to a team with an RPI over 110, and that’s pretty much it.

Taking care of business

Kansas State 60, Texas Tech 56. The Wildcats’ at-large bid is relatively secure, as long as there aren’t unsightly blemishes along the way. This game would have been one of those unsightly blemishes. But, K-State won, and they’re all line drives in the box score.

Bubble vs. Bubble

Xavier 65, St. John’s 53. Xavier was a 10 seed and St. John’s an 11 seed in this week’s Field of 68, so this was a pretty important game for both squads. Xavier (19-9) has the fallback of a noncon win against Cincinnati, but the Musketeers only have one win against an at-large caliber team in the past six weeks. St. John’s (18-11), on the other hand, now has been swept by Xavier, a team it will be directly competing with for an at-large bid. That’s not an absolute factor in the process, but it’s not a good thing for the Johnnies, either.

Saint Joseph’s 79, Dayton 53. Dayton really needed to win this game, but it was never much of a contest. Saint Joseph’s rambled out to a 19-point halftime lead and pushed that margin to 30 in the second half. The Hawks needed this win, too, but not as much as Dayton did. The Flyers still have resume opportunities left, with games against UMass, Saint Louis and Richmond, but they’ll have to play much, much better than they did Tuesday just to avoid blowout losses to those three squads.

Bubble on tap …

Pittsburgh (20-7, RPI 44) at Boston College, 8 p.m., ESPN3

Alabama at Ole Miss (16-11, RPI 80), 8 p.m., ESPN3

Tennessee (16-11, RPI 60) at Mississippi State, 8 p.m., ESPN3

Texas A&M at LSU (16-11, RPI 72), 8 p.m., ESPN3

California (18-9, RPI 51) at No. 3 Arizona, 9 p.m., ESPN2

Baylor (18-9, RPI 39) at No. 24 Texas, 9 p.m., ESPNU

Nebraska (16-10, RPI 47) at Illinois, 9 p.m., Big Ten Network

Stanford (18-8, RPI 40) at Arizona State (19-8, RPI 34), 11 p.m., ESPNU


TOURNEY TELEVISION


CBS and Turner Sports announced its broadcast teams for each round of the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday.

These eight teams will call the action for the second and third rounds of the tournament, with the top four (denoted by asterisks) calling the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. The final member of each team is the sideline reporter.

Jim Nantz / Greg Anthony // Tracy Wolfson*

Marv Albert / Steve Kerr // Craig Sager*

Verne Lundquist / Bill Raftery // Allie LaForce*

Kevin Harlan / Reggie Miller / Len Elmore // Rachel Nichols*

Ian Eagle / Jim Spanarkel // Lewis Johnson

Brian Anderson / Dan Bonner // Kristine Leahy

Spero Dedes / Doug Gottlieb // Jaime Maggio

Andrew Catalon / Mike Gminski // Otis Livingston

For the Final Four and title game, Nantz and Anthony will be joined by Steve Kerr to call the action, with Wolfson again serving as the sideline reporter. Anthony is replacing Clark Kellogg in the broadcast booth and will be calling his first Final Four and title games.

Catalon is new to the tournament play-by-play lineup. He has called college football and basketball games for CBS Sports Network since 2013, and also was part of NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage earlier this month. That was Catalon’s voice calling curling matches. Previously, Tim Brando had paired with Mike Gminski.

Ernie Johnson will host the Final Four and national title game from AT&T Stadium, and he will be joined by Kellogg, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

The two Final Four games will be played on TBS on Saturday, April 5 and the national title game will air on CBS on April 7.


GETTING TOGETHER?


JaQuan Lyle and Cliff Alexander have publicly discussed the thought of being teammates at Kansas. Now, that notion may be picking up steam again, with the 6-8 big man from Chicago, who’s already committed to the Jayhawks, trying to woo Lyle to Lawrence.

“Rock chalk we gotta get @jmamba5 to commit to the family,” Alexander tweeted.

The Lawrence Journal-World reported that Lyle, a 6-5, 215-pound prospect who’s attending Huntington Prep in West Virginia, was in attendance for Kansas’ 83-75 win over Oklahoma, where he snapped this picture. Sporting News ranks Lyle as the No. 17 overall recruit in 2014.

Lyle also shared on Instagram some moments of his visit to Oklahoma State this past Friday, and Oregon coach Dana Altman even came to see Lyle play for Huntington on Thursday, The (Huntington) Herald-Dispatch reported.

Lyle told Sporting News in October that he’d be comfortable playing at either guard position, taking a do-whatever-it-takes mentality to the program he’ll join.

Lyle might fit best at the 2 if he were to come to Kansas, because the Jayhawks figure to have Naadir Tharpe and Frank Mason back next season and Wayne Selden is expected to go pro. Kansas also has Kelly Oubre Jr. committed for its Class of 2014, but his length likely would put him at the No. 3 spot.

Contributors: Ryan Fagan, Roger Kuznia