As promised, the running bubble watch post will resume today. ESPN's Joe Lunardi came out with his latest Bracketology update.

He has elevated Minnesota and Michigan to lock status. Rhode Island, Kansas State, Providence, Northwestern, Niagara, Georgetown, Notre Dame and Nevada are out of consideration.

That leaves 20 teams competing for six remaining at-large spots.

These are probably more numbers than you would ever want to know, but the figures in parentheses after the team name are the following (record against Division I opponents, RPI, strength of schedule, record vs. RPI top 50, record vs. RPI top 100, record in last 12 games)

(UPDATE 1:04 p.m.) Poor Virginia Tech. Every year the Hokies get right to the cusp of the NCAA tournament, and every year it seems like they come up just short of beating North Carolina in the ACC tournament to get over the hump. Today, they lost 79-76 in a game that went down the final seconds. Had they won, it would have been the Hokies' second victory against the No. 1 team in the country this year (how many bubble teams could have said that?). But, like last year, Virginia Tech couldn't quite do it, leaving it on the bad side of the bubble right now.

(UPDATE 1:11 p.m.) Minnesota just lost to Michigan State, the Big Ten's No. 1 seed, 64-56. Not a terrible loss for the Gophers, who were competitive. This shouldn't do anything to affect their "lock" status.

(UPDATE 2:08 p.m.) You can knock Kentucky out the tournament discussion after the Wildcats lost 67-58 to LSU, the SEC West's top seed. The Wildcats were terrible down the stretch and were hanging their hats on two wins against Tennessee and one against Florida. that's not going to cut it this year. I'm dropping them out of consideration.

(UPDATE 3:44 p.m.) Big bubble win by Ohio State, which knocked off Wisconsin 61-57 in the second round of the Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes were on the very good side of the bubble, listed as Lunardi's first team into the tournament of the teams in doubt. The Badgers, with a SOS of 16, appear to be solidly in, so beating a team like that is a definite boon for the Buckeyes.

(UPDATE 4:31 p.m.) Uh-oh, South Carolina. That was not what you needed to do today, losing to Mississippi State 82-68 in your only SEC tournament game. The Gamecocks have a mediocre RPI (49), a bad strength of schedule (96) and only one win against the RPI's top 50, and that was against Florida, a team that barely qualifies in that regard. If the SEC keeps up this pace, it might be a two-bid league. Has that ever happened for one of the big-six conferences? We'll check it out.

(UPDATE 4:59 p.m.) To answer my question above, yes, one of the big-six conferences has been limited to two NCAA bids before (we're talking post 1985, when the tournament was expanded to 64 teams). The Pac-10 only got two in 1986, '87 and '88. The other power conferences have had down years, but not that down. The ACC and Big 12 have never had fewer than four berths since 1985. The Big Ten (2004) and Big East (1993) both bottomed out at three. As for the SEC, it has had five or more every year since 1997. It was a three-bid league once: in 1990. So yes, it's rare, but conferences do have down cycles like the SEC is having this year.

(UPDATE 7:41 p.m.) The bubble takes another hit, as Temple knocks of Xavier in the A-10 semifinals. The Minutemen are a tournament lock, so the Owls making the finals is not a good thing for Auburn. In fact, Tigers fans had better hope hard that Dayton, another tourney lock, beat Duquesne in the other semifinal and beats Temple in the championship, so the Owls don't steal an automatic bid. As it stands, they're making a pretty strong case for an at-large berth. In other action, Tulsa knocked off UAB in what was a de facto elimination game. I'm dropping the Blazers from consideration. The Golden Hurricane still might have to be Memphis in the C-USA championship, no small task. Also, don't know if anyone is paying attention, but Maryland is beating Wake Forest, another bad sign for bubble teams.

(UPDATE 8:20 p.m.) The 6 o'clock games were not kind for teams like Auburn. First, Maryland pulled off another impressive win against Wake Forest. That gives the Terps wins this year against North Carolina (RPI: 3), Michigan State (4) and Wake Forest (10). And people wonder why Auburn doesn't get much consideration. It doesn't have anything close to those kind of wins on its resume. Making matters worse, Baylor is a potential bid thief in the Big 12 after knocking off Texas in the semifinals. The Bears have beaten Nebraska, Kansas and now Texas to get on the cusp of the automatic bid, ala Georgia last year. They'll get either Oklahoma State or Missouri in tomorrow's championship.

(UPDATE 9:25 p.m.) Lunardi has Ohio State as a lock now, leaving five at-large spots open. Miami, South Carolina, UAB and Kentucky are now out of consideration. He also put Maryland into the tournament for the time being. I've changed things below to reflect that.

(UPDATE 11:02 p.m.) Well, what happened while I was live blogging? Florida appears to be on the outs. Auburn is still alive. San Diego State improved its resume with a win against BYU. Penn State lost to Purdue by 14, weakening its case. But the worst news is that Duquesne beat Dayton, meaning either Duquesne or Temple will get the Atlantic 10's automatic bid, reducing the number of up-for-grabs at-large bids to four. Auburn had better not rest on its laurels.

LOCKS

• Ohio State (21-9, 35, 35, 5-9, 10-10, 8-4): Michigan State's up next, although the Buckeyes might have already done enough to get in
• Another spot is reserved for whoever wins the Atlantic 10 tournament: either Temple or Duquesne.
  

LUNARDI'S LAST FOUR IN

• Penn State (22-10, 67, 120, 6-8, 7-9, 7-5): Bad loss to Purdue doesn't bode well for the Nittany Lions
  
• San Diego State (20-8, 37, 48, 1-5, 6-8, 9-3): Can get auto bid by winning in the MWC championship tomorrow
  
• Creighton (26-7, 42, 110, 2-2, 9-5, 11-1): Blue Jays are done playing, hoping other teams fade away
• Maryland (19-12, 62, 30, 4-7, 5-10, 6-6): Terps get either Duke or Boston College in the ACC semis

FIRST TEAMS OUT (in order)

• New Mexico (21-11, 66, 82, 3-4, 7-8, 7-5): Loss to Wyoming late last night puts Lobos on a perilous perch as last team in with no games left to play
  
• Florida (22-10, 46, 94, 2-6, 8-9, 6-6): You've got to think that finishes off the Gators
  
• Arizona (19-13, 59, 31, 5-9, 8-12, 7-5): Wildcats did themselves no favors by losing to Arizona State early in the Pac-10 tournament
• UNLV (21-10, 63, 87, 4-5, 9-8, 6-6)
• Temple (20-11, 40, 39, 2-5, 5-8, 9-3): Owls crept closer to that automatic berth out of the A-10
• Saint Mary's (23-6, 48, 152, 2-3, 3-4, 7-5)
• Davidson (25-7, 69, 165 , 1-4 , 3-3, 8-4): Praying the committee weighs Stephen Curry's injury heavily
• Auburn (21-10, 65, 65, 3-5, 6-9, 10-2): Another RPI top-50 win; the Tigers can get another tomorrow against Tennessee
  
• Tulsa (22-9, 62, 126,3-6, 4-6, 10-2): No. 3 Memphis is up next; good luck
• Virginia Tech (18-14, 56, 24, 2-9, 6-12, 4-8): Hokies probably won't make it again, despite a strong effort against No. 1 North Carolina
• Southern California (19-12, 52, 23, 3-8 , 4-7, 6-6)

STICK A FORK IN 'EM

• Kentucky (19-13, 79, 62, 4-6, 8-11, 4-8): Awful finish, poor SEC tournament showing should end the Wildcats' 17-year run in the NCAAs
• UAB (22-11, 44, 79, 0-5, 2-11, 9-3): Blazers probably didn't do enough to warrant at-large consideration.
• South Carolina (21-9, 49, 96, 1-5, 7-7, 8-4): Not a great time to go one-and-done in the SEC tournament
• Miami (17-12, 61, 28, 2-7, 6-10, 4-8)