Bracketology: A 5-game win streak has ASU in NCAA Tournament

Arizona State’s first five-game win streak since James Harden was playing for the Sun Devils has done a lot for its tournament chances.

Bracket Matrix, which takes a combination of the most reliable NCAA Tournament projections, now has Arizona State firmly in as a No. 10 seed. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm does not have ASU on the bubble in a Monday refresher, while Joe Lunardi of ESPN’s latest update on Friday before a win over California has the Sun Devils as one of the last four teams in.

TeamRankings’ odds for teams to get a tourney bid had ASU at 58.7% before wins over California and Stanford. Now with those victories added in, the Sun Devils have an 82.5% chance to make the big dance in that model.

The teams’ NET rating has jumped slightly to 50, with a quadrant one win against the Cardinal being added in, as well as Cal being factored in as a quadrant three win. That improves the Sun Devils’ record against quadrant three and four teams to 10-0 while ASU is now 4-6 versus quadrant one squads.

That fourth win is what made the Stanford game so important, and the Sun Devils could really solidify their chances even more with their toughest game of the year left against No. 14 Oregon on Thursday. The Ducks are 22nd in NET, and after a matchup with USC (No. 49) on Feb. 29, no more games remain for the Sun Devils against quadrant one teams in the regular season.

Junior guard Remy Martin has been a large part of the success for ASU. One of the frontrunners for conference player of the year, Martin is coming off a Pac-12 Player of the Week award win. His 19.6 points per game lead the conference and he has scored over 20 points in his last three games.

The big game against Oregon is this Thursday in Tempe. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

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