Bubble Watch

The women's tournament has 33 at-large bid and the men's 34. Theoretically, if you are one of the top 33 or 34 at-large teams in the latest RPI rankings, you should make your tournament. The "bubble magic number" is calculated by taking your current RPI - the number of automatic bids above you - the number of conference leaders above you (for conferences who haven't finished their conference tournaments yet). So, if your bubble magic number is 25, for instance, there are 24 at-large teams with higher RPIs than you.

Notre Dame Women's Basketball

Current RPI	28
Automatic Bids with Higher RPI	4
Conference Leaders with Higher RPI	5
Bubble Magic Number	19

This assumes that UConn beats West Virginia in Tuesday night's Big East final. Nineteen is much lower than 33, so the women should be in. CollegeRPI.com has the women as a 9 seed. The women, by the way, beat South Florida - a team with a similar RPI - in the first round of the Big East tournament before losing by 11 to UConn in the quarterfinals.

Notre Dame Men's Basketball

Current RPI	87
Automatic Bids with Higher RPI	6
Conference Leaders with Higher RPI	15
Bubble Magic Number	66

Well, it looks like the men will have to win the Big East tournament. They'll start by facing Georgetown at 2 PM Eastern Wednesday on ESPN.