Bubble teams Xavier, Wake Forest flop in conference tournament play

Xavier and Wake Forest entered conference tournament play fighting for their NCAA tournament lives. And after both lost Wednesday, they now face an excruciating wait until Selection Sunday.

Wake Forest may not be completely doomed, but Xavier blew a significant opportunity in dramatic fashion in the first round of the Big East tournament versus Butler.

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Xavier, which was among the last four teams in the tournament on Yahoo Sports’ latest Big Board, had a 66-60 lead with 53 seconds to play. Butler kept fighting and responded with six straight to tie the score.

On the ensuing possession, Xavier’s Paul Scruggs made an excellent play, cutting through the defense for the go-ahead and-one with 7 seconds to play.

Up 68-66, Scruggs missed the ensuing free throw and then did the unthinkable. He intentionally fouled Simas Lukosius, sending the Butler freshman to the free-throw line.

Did Xavier plan to foul up three points? That’s a common strategy employed by teams in the final seconds of a game to ensure their opponent cannot tie the score with a 3-pointer. But there was a key element missing here. Xavier was up by only two.

Lukosius, who scored a career-high 27, calmly sank the two free throws and sent the game to overtime. On top of that, the foul was Scruggs’ fifth, disqualifying him from the game.

Once the game reached overtime, Lukosius took over. The freshman from Lithuania scored 12 points in OT and led Butler to an 89-82 upset victory.

In the loss, Xavier went 13-of-29 from the free-throw line and now finds itself in a tenuous position following a Quadrant 3 defeat. The Musketeers were once 16-5 overall. Since then, they lost 11 of their next 14 games, including Wednesday’s loss to Butler. Xavier now sits at 18-13 overall.

Wake Forest loses to Boston College

Entering Wednesday, Wake Forest was projected by Yahoo Sports as a No. 9 seed. That’s firmly in the field. Following Wednesday’s loss to Boston College, though, the Demon Deacons could be in some trouble.

Wake Forest led by 10 points with 6:06 to play, but proceeded to blow that lead to BC, the ACC’s No. 13 seed. The game went into overtime and the Eagles prevailed with an 82-77 upset to advance to the quarterfinals.

Wake Forest, like Xavier, will be left to sit around and wait for the bracket Sunday. Wake is 23-10 overall, but has just one Quadrant 1 win, two other top-50 wins and one of the weakest non-conference schedules in the country.

Compared to Xavier, the Demon Deacons are in decent shape. Still, there’s going to be plenty of anxiety in the coming days.