Checking in on the Atlantic 10

Temple, Saint Joseph's and La Salle have all clinched spots in the Atlantic 10 tournament, which starts on March 11. They all have three regular-season games left, and Temple has the most to lose from them.

The Owls have a 4 p.m. game at Dayton today, and they're hanging on for dear life to a top-four spot in the conference rankings — and the first-round tournament bye that comes with it. As luck would have it, they currently share third place with the Flyers, but that will change one way or the other in a few hours.

But the Owls are on shaky ground for another reason: They need to finish strong if they are to have any shot at an at-large bid, assuming they don't win the conference's auto-bid. After Dayton, they face St. Joe's at home and George Washington on the road.

As of this morning, ESPN's Bracketology has Oklahoma State, Florida, Michigan and Penn State as the last four bubble teams in the NCAA Tournament, with respective RPIs of 32, 41, 46 and 63. The first four teams in the 'out' column are Minnesota, Cincinnati, Maryland and Providence; they're sitting at 36, 50, 57 and 70. The next four after that are Texas A&M, San Diego State, New Mexico and Kansas state, at 35, 54, 71 and 76.

Temple's RPI is 45 before today's game, and their strength of schedule is the nation's 54th-toughest.

The Owls took a big step backwards in their last game, a 70-63 loss to La Salle on Thursday. That defeat came after they had beaten the Explorers by the same margin on Jan. 11. Those wins over Tennessee and Penn State have started to look more and more like aberrations. A loss today — or worse, to St. Joe's or G.W. next week — might mean that Temple's only route to the Tournament is winning the A-10 title. And those aren't good odds.