UAB, Marquette Win; San Diego State, Dayton Fall In Wednesday Bubble Action

Wednesday was a busy evening for Bubble Watch teams, not many of whom were able to take advantage of the games they had on the schedule.

Three of the Last Four In were in action. San Diego State had the most to gain of the the group, but they fell at BYU, 82-68. Our Cougar blog, Vanquish The Foe, and our Mountain West Connection blog have more on this one.

The other two clubs were both challenged, but survived. UAB managed to move to 10-3 in Conference USA and 22-5 overall, but it wasn't easy, as they only defeated UCF 53-49 in Orlando. Marquette also struggled, but they managed to move to 9-6 in the Big East with a 63-61 overtime win over St. John's in Queens, thanks to a Jimmy Butler buzzer-beater. The Golden Eagles will look to win their third straight road game Sunday at Seton Hall.

In the First Four Out group, Dayton is for all intents and purposes out of the race (barring a run through the A-10 Tournament after their 49-41 loss at Temple. The Flyers only scored 13 in the first half, And Temple was exactly able to put them away, as the Owls only managed 19 in that same period.

Charlotte could be in position to benefit from Dayton's struggles The 49ers are two games up on the Flyers in the A-10 standings after they beat St. Joseph's, 95-58, to record their 19th victory of the season and snap a three-game skid.

Cincinnati, on the other hand. grabbed a 74-69 home win over DePaul. The Bearcats can get to .500 in the Big East next time out, but that's not likely, considering they next play at No. 8 West Virginia Saturday.

Mississippi State also defended their home court, topping Alabama, 74-66. The Bulldogs are now alone atop the SEC West at 8-6 after Arkansas lost to LSU. Roll Bama Roll, SBN's Alabama blog, and For Whom The Cowbell Tolls, our Miss. State site, will have more on the Tide at Bulldogs contest.

Among the Next Four Out, Ole Miss had a devil of a time against Auburn, finally pulling away to win 85-75. Like I said, the Rebels won't get much of a boost because of that win, but they couldn't afford a loss. Read more about this one at our Rebel blog, Red Cup Rebellion, and our Tiger blog, Track Em Tigers.

On the other hand, Notre Dame grabbed a huge 68-53 home win over No. 12 Pittsburgh. It was the first win for the Irish without Luke Harangody, who's still out with a knee injury. Read more at our Fighting Irish blog, Rakes Of Mallow.

Three teams on the fringe played Wednesday, and all of them suffered defeats. Minnesota blew a golden opportunity (bad pun intended) as they couldn't beat No. 3 Purdue at home, even though the Boilermakers were without the services of Robbie Hummel for most of the game. The Gophers have one last shot to make a real impression before the Big Ten tournament, and that comes at Illinois on Saturday.  Our Minnesota blog, The Daily Gopher, and our Purdue blog, Hammer And Rails, will have full reaction to Wednesday night's game.

St. Louis' short-lived bubble hopes are pretty much finished, as couldn't grab a third straight home victory over an A-10 contender, falling to Xavier, 73-71. There are simply too many holes on the Billikens' resume, and only an A-10 Tournament title can save them.

USF's four-game Big East win streak is looking like an abberation. The Bulls fell 74-49 at seventh-ranked Villanova, to fall to 16-11 overall and 6-9 in the conference. 

Further up the S-curve, Virginia Tech did themselves no favors by losing at Boston College, 80-60. The Hokies second loss in a row drops them to 8-5 in the ACC. While they've won 21 games, Tech can't really afford another big slip up like this one, thanks to a weak non-conference schedule,. Read more at our Hokie blog, Gobbler Country, and our Eagle blog, BC Interruption.

Oklahoma State was swept by No. 21 Texas, who won a 69-59 decision in Austin. Our Texas blog, Burnt Orange Nation, will have more on this one.

Maryland came back to defeat Clemson, 88-79 in College Park to further secure their spot. Head over to our Maryland blog, Testudo Times, and our Clemson blog, Shakin The Southland, for full postgame reaction.

UNLV won their second in a row, cruising past TCU, 78-62. Head back to Mountain West Connection to read more.

Finally, in one game involving a conference leader on the bubble, UTEP held onto the Conference USA lead with a tough 59-56 win at Southern Mississippi. The Miners are 12-1 in the conference and 21-5 overall heading into a home game against Rice on Saturday. Read more about the Miners' win at our new UTEP blog, the appropriately named Miner Rush.