Now that March is fast approaching, expect to hear the term “bubble team” plenty regarding those schools who are iffy for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid. Most bubble teams aren’t good enough to win their conference tournament and earn an automatic bid.

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

One such school is Mississippi State and the Bulldogs absolutely can’t afford to lose Tuesday night at home in SEC play against a mediocre-at-best Alabama team. MSU is a 3.5-point favorite. Mississippi State doesn’t have a very good resume in that it hasn’t beaten a ranked team and played a very weak non-conference schedule other than a loss to Villanova.

The Bulldogs also are playing for a possible top-four finish in the SEC and a double-bye in the conference tournament. Alabama is one of the highest-scoring teams in the country under first-year coach Nate Oats but are lousy on defense usually. The Tide routed visiting Mississippi State 90-69 on January 8. With the Bulldogs up 28-27, Bama ended the first half on a 15-6 run and never looked back. The Tide are 9-3 ATS in the past 12 meetings.