It is still too early in the season for a full bubble watch, but there are some teams that are in a slippery spot and could go either way over the next few weeks/months that are worth keeping an eye on. Here are 10 of those.

Northwestern hosted the first NCAA Tournament in 1939, but it is the only power conference team that has never appeared in the dance, so this figures to be a story as long as it is possible. The Wildcats have lost to the four best teams they have played, but nobody else so far. They have non-conference wins over Wake Forest and Dayton, two teams they may be competing with for a spot in the field. Wisconsin and Purdue are generally believed to be the Big Ten's two best teams, so it's important for the Wildcats to try to beat one of them and do very well against the rest of the league because it's a down year in the Big Ten.

The Gamecocks haven't lost yet with their best player, Sindarius Thornwell, in the lineup. However, that doesn't mean that the committee will view them as undefeated. Losses are losses. They beat Florida at home on Wednesday night for their first win of note this season. In fact, Florida was the first likely tournament team the Gamecocks have played. The SEC is not very helpful when it comes to trying to build a tournament resume. The games against Kentucky and Florida are the only ones that provide opportunities to do that. The Gamecocks took advantage of the first of those games, but only have road games left with those two. Every other game is one with more potential to hurt than help.

Jamie Dixon has done a great job in his first season at TCU getting this team into a position to make a run at a spot in the NCAA Tournament. There are still holes to fill in the Horned Frogs' tournament resume though. Their best wins so far came at home against Iowa State and Illinois State, but they are just 1-4 against the RPI top 50. If those are still their best wins at the end of the season, it will make for a very nervous Selection Sunday. TCU is also going to have to find a way to beat at least one of the other middle-of-the-pack teams in the Big 12 on the road.

The predictive computer rating systems like the Cyclones better than their profile would indicate in part because they have close losses to Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga and Cincinnati. The problem is that they don't have any quality wins. Iowa State's best win is at home over Texas Tech, another tournament fence sitter. If the best thing we can say about the Cyclones at the end of the year is that they have a lot of close losses to very good teams, they will likely be in the NIT.

The Wolfpack have an electric player in freshman Dennis Smith Jr., but have struggled to win consistently. They have been good at home, beating Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh, but have struggled away from home, losing at Illinois, Miami and Boston College. The Wolfpack will have to eventually figure out a way to beat a good, if not great, team away from home if they are to make the NCAA Tournament. The ACC will give them plenty of chances to do that.

The Bears are one of the few teams on this list with a road win against a team that will either be in the bracket or compete for a spot in one. That was a one-point win at USC on January 8th. The problem for Cal is that they don't have anything else. They have lost to the five best teams that have played otherwise -- notably UCLA, Arizona, Virginia and Seton Hall. While things aren't as dire as in the SEC, the Pac-12 isn't providing a lot of chances for tournament-quality wins. The Bears are already done with UCLA and USC, but still have chances against Arizona and Oregon. They need to take advantage of some of those.

The Hogs have the same problem as South Carolina in that it is hard to build a tournament resume in the SEC. Arkansas beat Houston and UT Arlington at home in non-conference play, but those two are on the wrong side of the bubble right now. They also have a bad loss at home to Mississippi State. Their non-conference schedule wasn't awful, but it didn't have enough quality opponents to give them the chances they need for those kinds of wins. They still have road games left with the Gamecocks and Florida, so all hope isn't lost, but the Razorbacks' margin for error is already very thin.

This was supposed to be the year that the Rams, who were ranked in the preseason, won the A-10 and positioned themselves for a nice NCAA Tournament run. That hasn't happened. They have been particularly bad away from home, despite the fact that the Rams' one good win was a neutral-court victory over Cincinnati. They have lost away from home to Duke and Dayton, but also Providence, Houston and Valparaiso. Rhode Island better find a solution to that problem quickly because four of its next six games are on the road. If they don't, a potentially special season could end up going down the drain.

***Illinois State/Wichita State

These two lead the Missouri Valley, with the Redbirds a game in front due to their win over the Shockers on Saturday. Again this year, Wichita State is getting more love in the predictive computers than their actual accomplishment might indicate. However, this year, the Shockers have nothing to hang their hat on outside the league. They are 0-4 against the RPI top 100, which includes that loss to Illinois State and a home loss to Oklahoma State. Their best win is at Oklahoma.

Illinois State has that win over the Shockers and their best win after that is against New Mexico. They have only four losses, but three of them are bad losses to Tulsa, San Francisco and Murray State.

The problem this year is that the entire league is down. The only non-conference win over a top 50 RPI team in 18 tries is Indiana State's shocking victory over Butler. The Sycamores are the last place team in the conference. The Missouri Valley just isn't strong enough this season to build up an at-large team. So only one of these teams is likely to get in.