College basketball: Conference championship races still up for grabs in final weekend of regular season
Multiple teams are vying to win the regular-season titles in their conferences, with four teams still in the hunt in both the ACC and Big Ten.
The final weekend of college basketball’s regular season finds nearly all the major conferences still trying to decide the champions and top seeds in their postseason tournaments. Four teams remain in the mix in the ACC, and also in the Big Ten, which does not wrap up matters until Sunday.
Then there are the teams in the middle of the pack striving to get one of those precious few final at-large invitations to the NCAA Tournament and hope to hear their names called a week from Sunday.
Here’s a look at what the weekend offers.
All games are Saturday unless otherwise noted.
Big East
No. 8 Seton Hall at No. 11 Creighton, 2:30 p.m., Fox29
Before this game, No. 14 Villanova will finish its regular season at Georgetown. The Pirates (21-8, 13-4 Big East) and Bluejays (23-7, 12-5) can end the day as part of a three-way tie for first should the Wildcats and Creighton win.
Seton Hall had its chance to wrap up the outright title Wednesday night against Villanova but couldn’t come all the way back from a 14-point, second-half deficit and lost, 79-77. Creighton kept pace by knocking off Georgetown, and the Bluejays will have their home fans at full scream.
Creighton is 16-1 at home, but don’t count out the Pirates, who are 7-1 in Big East road games.
Big 12
No. 1 Kansas at Texas Tech, 2 p.m., ESPN
No. 4 Baylor at West Virginia, 1 p.m., ESPN Plus
The Jayhawks (27-3, 16-1 Big 12) can finish the regular season with a 16-game winning streak and the 62nd career conference title in program history by defeating the Red Raiders (18-12, 9-8). Udoka Azubuike, their 7-foot center, is finishing his career strong, scoring a career-high 31 points in Wednesday’s win over Texas Christian.
The Bears (26-3, 15-2), needing a win and a Kansas loss to gain a share of the title, have a more difficult time making the long trip to Morgantown with the Mountaineers (20-10, 8-9), who have lost six of their last eight.
ACC
No. 10 Louisville at No. 22 Virginia, 4 p.m., ESPN
Boston College at No. 7 Florida State, 4 p.m., ACC Network
North Carolina at No. 12 Duke, 6 p.m., ESPN
Louisville (24-6, 15-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) and Florida State (25-5, 15-4) begin the day in a first-place tie, one game ahead of Duke (24-6, 14-5) and Virginia (22-7, 14-5). Should Florida State and Louisville both win, Florida State will gain the No. 1 seed by virtue of its two-game sweep of the Cardinals in the season series. Meanwhile, the Tar Heels (13-17, 6-13) and Duke will try to give fans another classic game like the Feb. 8 one that the Blue Devils won on the road in overtime.
Big Ten
No. 24 Wisconsin at Indiana, noon, ESPN
No. 25 Michigan at No. 9 Maryland, Sunday at noon, Fox29
No. 19 Ohio State at No. 16 Michigan State, Sunday at 4:30 p.m., CBS3
No. 18 Iowa at No. 23 Illinois, Sunday at 7 p.m., Big Ten Network
There is a huge crowd at the top of the conference that is likely to send more teams to the NCAA Tournament than any other, with Wisconsin, Maryland, and Michigan State all tied for first place and each assured of a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
The owner of a seven-game winning streak, Wisconsin (20-10, 13-6 Big Ten) is in the driver’s seat. A victory over the desperate Hoosiers (19-11, 9-10) would gain for the Badgers the No. 1 seed in the tournament because they have the tiebreaker advantage over the Terrapins and the Spartans.
The Terrapins (23-7, 13-6) have stumbled with back-to-back losses to Michigan State and Rutgers and hope to recover on their home court against the Wolverines (18-11, 9-9). The Spartans (21-9, 13-6) have won five of their last six, four of them against ranked opponents.
Illinois (20-10, 12-7) is hoping to pick up the last double bye with a win over the Hawkeyes (20-10, 11-8). Should the Fighting Illini lose, the question of which team gets the double bye is complicated given all the tiebreaker scenarios.
Pac-12
UCLA at Southern California, 3:15 p.m., CBS3
After being counted out earlier this season, UCLA (19-11, 12-5 Pac-12) enters the final weekend tied for the conference lead with No. 13 Oregon and vying for its first regular-season title since 2012-13, which likely would secure an NCAA bid. But a loss to USC (21-9, 10-7) would open the door for the Ducks (23-7, 12-5) to capture the crown later Saturday with a victory at home over Stanford.
Expatriate of the week
Former Delsea High School star Keith Braxton ended the regular season for St. Francis (Pa.) with a pair of milestones. Last week, the 6-foot-5 senior forward from Glassboro became the first player in Northeast Conference history to reach 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds for his career, only the second St. Francis player to do so. The other? Hall of Famer Maurice Stokes. Earlier this week, Braxton earned first-team all-conference honors for the third consecutive year, the second player in NEC history to achieve that feat.