Men's NCAA Tournament bubble teams trending up, down: UNC, Vanderbilt and more

The men's college basketball regular season ends in one month on Sunday, March 9.

Time is ticking for teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble. Here are three trending up and three trending down following Saturday's action.

Trending up

North Carolina (14-10, 7-5 in ACC) | The Tar Heels won Saturday's battle of bubble teams with Pittsburgh, 67-66, to stop the bleeding after losing four of five. 

North Carolina entered the weekend as one of the last teams out of the NCAA Tournament, according to Fox Sports bracket analyst Mike DeCourcy. ESPN's Joe Lunardi placed it a rung lower in the "Next Four Out" category, while it failed to register on CBS Sports bracketology expert Jerry Palm's most recent projection.

The Tar Heels have a quick turnaround before a pivotal Quad 1 game at Clemson (19-5, 11-2 in ACC) on Monday. North Carolina is an unsightly 1-9 in Quad 1 games, defined as home games against teams 1-30 in NET rankings, neutral site games against teams 1-50 and road games against teams 1-75. (h/t Bballnet.com)

As important as it was for North Carolina to snap out of its slump, a loss to the Tigers will again send the team trending in the wrong direction.

Vanderbilt (17-6, 5-5 in SEC) | Vanderbilt's push for a tourney bid improved with its 86-78 home win against Texas. 

Like North Carolina, Vandy entered Saturday riding a rough patch, losing two games in a row and five of its past eight after going 13-1 in its first 14 games.

The Commodores improved to 3-5 in Quad 1 games, and they have several opportunities to add to that total during the rest of the regular season. Vanderbilt has seven Quad 1 games remaining, including its next six, beginning at home on Tuesday against Associated Press No. 1 Auburn (21-2, 9-1 in SEC), which lost its first SEC game this Saturday to No. 6 Florida (20-3, 7-3 in SEC). 

Wake Forest (18-6, 10-3 in ACC) | The ACC is the weakest it's been in recent history, but don't tell that to the Demon Deacons. 

DeCourcey, Lunardi and Palm are in agreement with Wake being one of the last four teams in the field, and its 76-66 road win at Cal (12-12, 5-8 in ACC) won't hurt its standing. Wake Forest is No. 66 in NET rankings, making it one of the lowest-rated teams under consideration for a tourney at-large bid. Every win will get Wake closer to the big dance, while one loss could be eliminating.

Trending down

BYU (15-8, 6-6 in Big 12) | The Cougars were run out of Fifth Third Arena in an 84-66 loss at Cincinnati. BYU fell to 2-6 in Quad 1 games and dropped its second consecutive game after an 85-74 home loss to No. 20 Arizona (16-6, 10-1 in Big 12).

Lunardi and Palm project BYU as one of the last four teams in the field, while DeCourcey has the Cougars on the outside.

BYU's blowout loss to Cincinnati is a significant setback for a program that made the NCAA Tournament for the second time in nine seasons a year ago.

Indiana (14-10, 5-8 in Big Ten) | A 70-67 home loss to No. 24 Michigan kicked Indiana further down the list of potential tournament teams. Lunardi and DeCourcey don't even have the Hoosiers under consideration, while Palm listed them as one of the first four teams out of the bracket.

On Friday, head coach Mike Woodson announced he plans on resigning following the season. As the losses pile up, that could easily be before the tournament begins.

Texas (15-9, 4-7 in SEC) | After falling at Vanderbilt, the Longhorns have lost three of four. With two challenging home games this week, things could go from bad to worse.

Texas, one of the last four cuts according to Palm, hosts No. 3 Alabama (19-3, 8-1 in SEC) on Tuesday and No. 14 Kentucky (16-7, 5-5 in SEC) on Saturday.

The Longhorns have been on the right side of the bubble most of the season, but an extended slide could endanger them.