Who Are Louisville's Potential NCAA Tournament Bid Stealers?

Several teams could play their way into the NCAA Tournament and knock Louisville off the bubble and out of the Big Dance.

(Photo of Luke Smith and Louisville Players: Steven Branscombe - USA TODAY Sports)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Following an early exit from the ACC Baseball Championship, Louisville's standing to make the NCAA Tournament is on very shaky ground. Sporting an overall record of 28-22 with an RPI ranking of 72nd, they are firmly in 'bubble' territory.

But their tournament resume does carry some strong points. Despite a .500 record in ACC play, some of their 16 conference wins come against a few of the better teams in the league, such as FSU and NC State.

College baseball experts seem to be torn on whether or not Louisville is in. In their most recent tournament projections, Baseball America had them among the 'Last Four In', and D1Baseball had them in the "Last Five Out'.

While just two days remain in conference championship week, that's still plenty of time for chaos to unfold across the college basketball landscape. Several teams could still make runs in their respective conference tournament, and potentially secure themselves an automatic or at-large bid that would curb Louisville's NCAA Tournament dreams.

Here are those teams that could burst Louisville's proverbial bubble, and prevent the Cardinals from going to the Big Dance if enough of them, or even one, punches their tickets:

Kansas State: KSU has a bit of an uphill climb. They have to beat TCU twice on Saturday to advance to the Big 12 final on Sunday, and even then, they will have to face two of the better teams in the conference in Oklahoma State or Texas. TCU, OSU and UT are already considered locks.

Florida Atlantic: Like in the Big 12, three of the final four teams left in the Conference-USA Tournament are considered locks: Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss and Old Dominion. FAU is the one crashing the party here, and could even play their way into an at-large bid even if they win vs. ODU on Saturday but lose in the C-USA final.

UCF, USF or Tulane: Basically, East Carolina just needs to win the American. If they lose both games on Saturday to UCF, an at-large bid will get stolen by default, considering ECU is considered a lock.

Jacksonville: For the Atlantic Sun crown it comes down to Liberty vs. Jacksonville. The Dolphins will have to win just once in the ASUN Finals vs. Liberty to win the conference, but depending on how Liberty looks against Jacksonville, they could play their way out of an at-large bid.

College of Charleston or UNC Wilmington: The Colonial is teetering on the edge of being a one-bid conference, but it all comes down to Northeastern. If they can beat College of Charleston on Saturday, then win twice vs. UNC Wilmington on Sunday, that's one at-large bid potentially saved. Even if either team wins, Northeastern doesn't have a very strong at-large resume.

Presbyterian: The Big South was considered a two-bid league, with both going to Campbell and USC Upstate, but Presbyterian has hopes to make it three. They're only have to beat Campbell once on Saturday to win the conference, whereas Campbell needs two wins to save an at-large bid.

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