Top 50 is a dirty way to count wins against tournament teams. If Winthrop and BYU qualify, it adds to the narrative that we played and won a tough schedule and beat 2 more tournament teams.
Except that we didn't beat both those teams.
First off our resume is pretty thin. MSU is a must win - they look legit right now. That said, the bubble is just awful.
Wake? they are terrible, they have 1 top 50 win, against Miami 6 weeks ago. After that you are looking at wins vs Pitt, Ga Tech and NC State. Those are like wins against Nebraska, who cares?
Cal? Sure they almost beat a few good teams. And they almost lsot their 2 "marquee" wins against USC (won by 1) and Utah (won by 2. In 2ot). You can keep Cuonzo Martin. My bad they also beat Princeton. And lost to Stanford. They suck.
TCU has lost 5 straight to ranked teams, their only decent wins are Iowa Sttae, K State (controversial) and Illinois State
Vanderbilt looks legit, won four in a row, wins against S Car, Ark, FLorida, IOwa State. Miznoz did blow them out by 20 though.