LSU (right now) has maybe the most interesting resume in all of the country. Their RPI is 75. That's the lowest of any potential "bubble" teams. However, they are only one of 8 teams in the nation who have 7 or more "Tier/quadrant 1" wins and they have the most wins of anybody vs. the current RPI top 25. Furthermore, 3 of those 7 wins have come away from home, and 2 of those 7 were against non-SEC teams. So they have beaten good teams inside and outside of conference play. I guess maybe the one knock is that 4 of the 7 wins have been against 2 teams (Ark and A&M).

A few weeks back the he NCAA selection committee released their top 16 teams if the tournament started on 2/11. Obviously a TON has, can and will change since that time, but it did give a bit of insight into what the committee may look at as most important in selecting the field. Those metrics seem to be:

1. number of Q1 wins
2. wins away from home
3. RPI

LSU's best argument right now is in category 1. LSU has won several games vs. really good opponents. The downside is their other wins are against weak opponents. They haven't done really anything vs. the "middle".

Also, LSU's SOS is 35. Good, but not great. Their OOC schedule is pretty weak. BUT, they did beat the two best teams on it.

Going 3-1 down the stretch gives LSU a compelling resume to consider even before they play the first game of the SECT. And that is 3-1 in any combination, even a loss to Vandy tonight. The reason is because if LSU loses to Vandy but still finishes 3-1 that would mean they beat UGA and USC on the road. Depending on how things shake out one or BOTH of those could end up being tier one wins (road wins vs. the RPI top 75 are tier one wins).

IMO, starting tonight the margin of error is 1. LSU can only sustain 1 loss over the next four. Any more, and LSU will likely have to make some significant noise in the SECT (i.e. beating 1 or 2 top 40 RPI teams) to put themselves in consideration.

Easy? NO.
Doable? Sure.

No one should EXPECT LSU to make the NCAAT. But with two weeks left in the season they are realistically in the conversation. After last season of being completely irrelevant for 3 months, I'll take it!