Adam Glatczak writes the "Wednesday Onions" column for CollegeHoopsnet.  Bookmark the "Wednesday Onions" homepage and come back each week!

Selection Sunday has drama - it may be the most suspenseful day in the whole sports year. It has all the conflict you can imagine, with the fight between what you might call the “establishment,” a.k.a., the “majors”, and the upstarts, or “mid-majors.” It has conspiracy theories. And it has Duke, and as long as it has Duke, we can be assured that the TV networks will never lose interest in either selection day or the NCAA Tournament that it leads up to.

All this means that whose in the NCAA Tournament field is a big deal, and we’ll acknowledge that here. We could do a daily or weekly “Bubble Watch,” but there’s no need. That market has been cornered, and most of them really don’t mean much until this month, anyways. As for bracket projections, well, there are plenty of those, too, and a few are so well done that it would make even a good one rather redundant.

This is our one-time review of NCAA Tournament possibilities. We do it now because, with March now here, we’re only a few games away from the end of everyone's seasons. Now, we can finally say without a doubt that some teams can’t miss the tourney, no matter what they do. We also now have a real good look at who the serious contenders are for at-large spots, and most of the pretenders have been cleared out of the way.

A note: Just so this is clear, the definition of a “lock” here is a bit different than that of a lot of the other bracket watches. Here, a lock is defined as a team that would without a doubt make the tournament even if it lost the rest of its games, NOT as a team that will be in the field if you just extrapolate out its season results. If it could be even remotely debatable, as it could be for a team like Arizona if it loses the rest of its games, they’re not a lock. Personally, I find it kind of funny that teams can drop from “locks” to “bubble” on some of these watch lists. If their status can change, were they really a ‘lock’ in the first place?

Locks. We’re putting 27 teams in this category as of today, March 3. More can join, not less.

ACC (5)

Duke

Georgia Tech

Wake Forest

N.C. State

North Carolina

Atlantic 10 (1)

St. Joseph’s

Big East (4)

Pittsburgh

Syracuse

Connecticut

Providence

Big 12 (3)

Kansas

Texas

Oklahoma State

Big 10 (3)

Illinois

Wisconsin

Michigan State

Conference USA (4)

Cincinnati

UNC-Charlotte

Memphis

Louisville

Missouri Valley (1)

Southern Illinois

Pacific 10 (1)

Stanford

SEC (4)

Kentucky

South Carolina

Mississippi State

Florida

West Coast (1)

Gonzaga

One-bid leagues, no matter what. Leagues that will only get one bid, and really can’t argue for more. 12 leagues fall in this category:

Atlantic Sun. Belmont, Central Florida, Troy State and Georgia State are all good enough to win an NCAA game, though. If it weren’t for the bottom of the league, this might be a top 15 conference this year.

Big Sky. Someone (Eastern Washington) had to win the regular season; everyone else (six of remaining seven teams) finished second. What a drop from last year to this year; Sky winner looks like first round fodder.

Big South. Liberty, Coastal Carolina, UNC-Asheville and High Point are left; probably best team (Birmingham Southern) was ineligible for tourney.

Horizon League. UIC or UW-Milwaukee could both be Sweet 16 sleeper picks in NCAAs, but both did just enough this year to blow any kinds of at-large chances.

Ivy League. Princeton is as good as gold to win it.

MEAC. South Carolina State and Coppin State are favorites, Delaware State a darkhorse.

Mid-Continent. Any of seven teams have real shots, but don’t be surprised if experience (IUPUI) comes out on top. Should be a fun tourney.

Northeast. Call Monmouth the favorite, but watch for Central Connecticut State.

Patriot. Round 3 of Lehigh-Lafayette would be fun, but American could barge in and win it all.

Southland. SE Louisiana has won regular season, looking for first-ever NCAA bid. So are Stephen F. Austin and Texas-Arlington, two of their biggest challengers.

SWAC. Mississippi Valley State is the big favorite, but could be upset. Who might do it is anyone’s guess.

Sun Belt. Louisiana-Lafayette should be the favorite, but watch for Arkansas-Little Rock and Western Kentucky, which hosts.

That puts us at 39 bids accounted for so far, or actually 38, since two of these bids will be combined into one in the ridiculous play-in game.

Who might deserve to be in but won’t be if they don’t win their conference tourney. These teams are more than deserving of some of the last few spots in the field, but won’t even get a sniff, and that’s wrong. Substitute them for the sixth team from some top conference and the field wouldn’t be hurt a bit.

East Tennessee State. Until a two-point loss at Charleston on Saturday, the Bucs had won 16 in a row and had blown through the Southern Conference. Just as importantly, this team is better than it was at the start of the year, when it lost on the road in OT at Clemson and by 11 at Texas Tech. They wouldn’t lose at Clemson today.

Manhattan. Jaspers would’ve had a fair case for an at-large spot, but have done just enough to blow it in the eyes of most. They are certainly good enough to beat a team in the first round of the NCAAs, though, and in fact were playing as one of the 34 best at-large teams until they lost a squeaker to Rider last week. Like ETSU, they are playing better now than early in the season.

Boston University. The committee likes to talk about coming into the tourney hot. Only St. Joseph’s and Stanford are hotter. BU has won 23 of its last 24. It won at Michigan, which should put them ahead of the Wolverines in any bubble discussion, and one of the four losses was to St. Joe’s. Another was to Boston College, and the only bad loss was to Holy Cross, back when BU started 0-3. America East isn’t the strongest league, but if they lost in the conference tourney the Terriers would certainly deserve more of a look than they’ll get.

Austin Peay. What do you say about the Governors, 16-0 in the Ohio Valley, 3-8 outside of it? Well, you say an undefeated record in a D-I conference deserves to be rewarded. Peay didn’t do much at all out of conference, but how much could realistically have been expected? Eight of 11 OOC games were on the road, and those eight losses came to the likes of Louisville, Alabama, Memphis, Kentucky, Wichita State and Belmont.

Virginia Commonwealth. The Rams won a very competitive CAA, and that should count for more than it will. Most of their losses aren’t bad, but unfortunately, they don’t have a name win to hang their hat on. If they did, you could make a good case for VCU.

Now, odds are at least a couple of these teams will win their conference tourneys, and if all didn’t, we’d be forced to make some choices of who is worthiest. In other words, even if we designed the bracket the way we wanted, we’d probably have to hold out at least 1 or 2 of them. However, even if somehow, some way all five of those teams lost in their conference tournaments AND still made the NCAAs, we’re only up to 48 bids filled. With 16 bids available for the remaining at-large teams and conference tourney winners (almost all of which will come from the ‘locks’ or ‘bubble’ lists), I think that’s more than plenty of spots for the other ‘bubble teams.’ It should also prove that the tournament would not be hurt if we had a few more East Tennessee States in the field.

Some conference champions that deserve priority:

Air Force. The Falcons should be in. A Mountain West outright title has to stand for something and certainly should more than offset a loss to Texas-Pan American. Some think the committee will say otherwise, but I’d be shocked if AFA isn’t called on Selection Sunday.

MAC Champion/Western Michigan. It looks like the Broncos should finish with the best record in the MAC, and that ought to have them in the field. If WMU and Kent State tied for the title and it came down to one or the other for an at-large, you probably should go with the Broncos, who at least won a few games against “name” opponents. They also whipped fellow bubble team UAB on the road. It’s ridiculous that a team like WMU with a 22-4 record and only three MAC losses is even on the bubble; the Broncos should be a no-brainer. As it is, they’re probably falling in the last teams in/first ones out category, while Kent is probably done now with its three straight losses. Just ask yourself this question: given the number of opportunities to prove their worth, which team has done more with their chances: Western, or some 11- or 12-loss team from a big conference?

WAC Champion/Texas-El Paso. Currently, UTEP has the edge on winning the league, but if they lose to Boise State this week and Hawaii, Rice or Nevada win their final two games, there will be a tie for the title. For our purposes, we’re going to call the Miners the champs, and they have had an incredible season. UTEP didn’t beat many of note out of conference, but they hung tight in a loss at Texas Tech and they blasted Rutgers by 26. Also, the WAC is tough enough at the top this year that 13 wins in the league should mean a bid, and if they win the title outright, it shouldn’t even be a question.

Utah State. Assuming the Aggies’ at least tie with Pacific for the Big West title, they ought to be in. If they beat Idaho this weekend and lose in the BWC tourney, how do you keep a team out of the tourney with 25+ wins and a whole three losses?

The contenders:

The top 5 or 6 on this list are as good as locks, but there’s at least a miniscule chance they could be left out if they spontaneously combust or something. The top 12-15 are probably looking good; after that, it’s all question marks. These teams are approximately listed in the order in which they’re likely to be selected. Of course, the order is subject to change and can certainly shuffle some during conference tourneys, so in some ways this is an ‘as of today’ look. However, the higher on the list, the more likely the team could handle going winless the rest of the season and still make it. Before going ballistic on all me or any other bracket prognosticators, though, just remember: your team can take away all doubt by simply winning its conference tournament.

Arizona. The Wildcats aren’t going to miss the tournament-in fact, they’ll probably receive a much better seed than they’ve earned. Their name will help.

Seton Hall. The Pirates at least have a few nice wins over Providence and Pitt, and more importantly, not many bad losses. They’ve done enough to deserve it without complaints here.

Boston College. BC really hasn’t done all that much to impress this year, other than sweeping Seton Hall. They have a sky-high RPI thanks to the Big East’s ridiculous non-conference scheduling, though, and that and the perception that they were screwed last year (which they weren’t) will carry them. If their Big East record weren’t so mediocre, it would be harder to find much wrong with them.

Texas Tech. Despite what the ‘experts’ are saying about their status being in question, expect the overall record to offset the league mark. It could be argued that TT has had a tougher conference schedule than Colorado and Missouri, too.

BYU. The Cougars are doing what every ‘bubble’ team should do. Rather than complaining about their situation and trying to explain away every loss, they’re simply not losing down the stretch. They’re playing their way into the field, and a win over Oklahoma State should carry them home. Also, if there is some doubt, think about this: would the committee possibly have some soft spot somewhere for the Cougars after the way they were disrespected last year? The committee will say no and the cynics will say no, but…

Vanderbilt. The Commodores are probably safe, but if they aren’t, they can point to their inability to prove much on the road as the reason why. Vandy didn’t leave Nashville until January. They should still be all right.

Dayton. Flyers just win almost all the games they should. Despite some recent slip-ups, odds are UD should be fine. An Atlantic 10 West Division crown should have them safe in the field, but they are putting themselves in more danger than necessary with their late losses.

LSU. See Boston College. How the Tigers have such a high RPI is something that should be studied in a PBS special. Like the Big East, though, the SEC knows how to schedule big power ratings by just telling almost all of its teams to play nobodies out of conference so they all finish 10-1 outside the league. However, the committee could possibly see the Tigers in a lesser light with leading scorer Jaime Lloreda done for the year, and that could drop them to the fringe if they go out of the SEC tourney early (wins over Ole Miss and Auburn to finish the season don’t prove much).

Florida State. On one hand, the Seminoles have proven they can beat just about anyone in the country at home. On the other hand, they’ve proven nothing on the road. What happens? We’re guessing FSU is in. Expect the ACC to receive a lot of respect from the committee.

Alabama-Birmingham. Something just tells me the Blazers aren’t in as good of shape as many think. Would love to see them in because they’re an entertaining team to watch and the tourney would be better for it. They have a decent case and odds are still probably better than 50-50 that they’re in, but UAB would be advised to make a run in the C-USA tourney, or at least not lose its first game.

Missouri. Other than Oklahoma State, the Tigers really haven’t beaten anyone too special in their recent streak, but they’ll likely ride the media attention around it, their Big 12 standing and their tough non-conference schedule into the tourney. Would personally like to see a few more wins over good teams down the stretch.

Alabama. See Missouri. Other than the win over Mississippi State, the Tide hasn’t done anything all that impressive in its recent streak. Both deserve credit for their late rises. Schedule certainly wasn’t as tough as the RPI says it was, either, but Bama will ride it into the tourney. Alabama is actually a better bet to make it than Mizzou if the Tigers lose their regular season finale to Kansas.

DePaul. Hmmm. Nothing about the Blue Demons’ season has really grabbed me and said “Watch these guys,” but the power rating numbers are working out. They do have several nice wins, a few clunky losses but beat most teams they should. Like UAB, though, DePaul would be advised to make a run in the Conference USA tourney and take away as many doubts as possible.

Maryland. The Terrapins are probably in. The ACC is tough this year, abnormally tough (though a lot of ACC people would disagree about that last part). The beef here would be that, at some point, though, you have to do something distinctive in conference. The Terps really haven’t done it yet, or at least not enough to overshadow the number of losses. For every win over N.C. State, they’ve lost a game they should’ve won. The schedule was tough, but if you take out gimmies against American, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Mount St. Mary’s and UNC-Greensboro, Maryland is only 11-11 (as of today) against legit opponents. In fairness to them, that’s a lot of legit opponents, but at some point you have to show some semblance of consistency. Just playing a tough schedule shouldn’t get you in the tourney, but many seem to think otherwise. See Georgia in 2001, the year the Bulldogs’ record was so bad you wondered if the NIT would’ve taken them if the NCAA didn’t. For their sake, we’d hope the Terps go nuts in the ACC tourney to remove the doubt.

Richmond/George Washington. At least one of these two teams should get in, but neither is a gimmie. It’s probably too late for this to happen, but if one can separate from the other between now and Selection Sunday, give that team at least a 50-50 chance and probably send the other to the NIT. Otherwise, maybe give Richmond the edge by a whisker. Both played very underrated non-conference schedules and deserve to be recognized for it, though Richmond’s passes the RPI test a little better. Even though it has lost a couple in a row to Richmond and Xavier, GW’s edge is that it is ahead of the Spiders in the A-10 standings right now.

Utah. It’s tough to figure where the Utes fit in. Utah always plays weird non-conference schedules with some excellent teams and some terrible ones, but usually rolls through that schedule without bad losses and does just enough to be an at-large. Law of averages might be ready to catch up with the Utes, though, so they would be advised to go deep in the Mountain West tournament.

Nevada. Like Utah, it’s hard to gauge what the committee will think of the Wolf Pack. Nevada should finish 20-8 overall and 13-5 in a very tough WAC. Out of conference, they played tough at UConn, drilled Kansas at home and won at UNLV. Only three losses were by more than seven points, and the power rating has stayed in the 40s most of the year. All in all, the Pack has done enough to deserve a bid, but you can bet their less-than marquee name will work against them. If they do get in, it’s almost certainly as one of the lowest at-large seeds.

Colorado. Not as safe as Texas Tech or even Missouri. Other than the Big 12 mark, there’s not much to the Buffs’ this year that is too impressive.

Oklahoma. Falls behind Colorado because of the loss last week. Both teams have their Big 12 marks to fall back on but little else. Doubtful that the Sooners will get much help from wins against Texas A&M and Baylor to close the season, either, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if either CU or OU makes the tourney.

Michigan. Even though they don’t deserve to, someone from the Big 10 is going to get to the tourney because of the conference’s clout and cause the head of the committee, Bob Bowlsby, is the AD at a Big 10 school. (And not only that, they’ll get a ridiculously high seed, so it doesn’t look like they were the last team in.) The Wolverines or Purdue may be the best candidate. Again, do they deserve it? No.

Purdue. Think about this: you’re in the Big 10, you’ve beaten Duke and Seton Hall and played a Big 10 schedule, and your RPI is in the 90s. Does anyone understand how hard it is to get an RPI that bad when you play in a league that plays 80% of its non-conference games at home? What we’re trying to say is that, no matter how much they politic, the Boilermakers shouldn’t even be close to the NCAAs. Purdue has some big wins; so does Xavier, Georgia and a whole bunch of other bubble teams. Purdue has also offset those big wins with some worthless wins, as well as some awful losses that few mention. If they’re not in the Big 10, this team isn’t even close to consideration.

Xavier. Probably killed hopes with second loss to Duquesne. Still enough quality wins to make a case, but also quite a few clumsy losses. XU needs to make the A-10 final to begin arguing, and even though Richmond and George Washington are listed higher on this list, the Musketeers aren’t much behind either.

Washington. Don’t be fooled by that Pac-10 record; the Huskies still have a long way to go. A win over Stanford might get them in; otherwise, anything less than a Pac-10 tourney title probably isn’t good enough.

Georgia. Some great wins, but just not enough consistency. Take out the Winthrop loss, and UGa’s profile doesn’t look much different than Maryland’s, except the strength of schedule isn’t propping up the Bulldogs quite as much.

Rutgers. Another team whose RPI skyrocketed thanks to the Big East’s innovative scheduling practices. Try to find one quality non-conference win for the Scarlet Knights. Temple is the closest thing, and you’re not hearing anyone talking about the Owls’ at-large chances. It wouldn’t kill me if Rutgers made its first NCAA trip since 1991, but there are simply more deserving at-large candidates.

Kent State. A week ago, we said the Golden Flashes should be in unless they lost the rest of their games down the stretch. Well, they’re working hard to do just that, having now lost three in a row.

Rice/Hawaii. Both need a share of the WAC title to start their argument. Otherwise, they have likely done just enough to stay out of the discussion, victims of the top of the WAC beating itself up so much.

Notre Dame. Sorry, not much of a case for the Irish when you compare them with others above. A MAC school can’t afford to lose in conference to Central Michigan, but a Big East school can lose to them at home and have it practically written off?

Iowa. What the Hawkeyes have done this year with all the players coming and going is admirable. It just isn’t anything earth-shattering when compared to others on the fence.

Nebaska/Iowa State/Virginia/Rhode Island. None is really “on the bubble” right now; however, they could get there if they make a run the rest of the season to, say, their conference tournament final. (And Virginia and Rhode Island have already started that.)

Murray State. The Racers won’t even get consideration because they didn’t win the OVC. However, they deserve a look, with 26 wins so far and victims including Southern Illinois and a pair from Conference USA. They blew their chances because of losses to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Samford, but their other three losses (at Pitt, at Louisville and at Austin Peay, which has a 28-game homecourt streak) are more than understandable. Quality team.

Pacific. Solely on this list because the Tigers deserve to be recognized for their run this year. UOP has beaten a pair of RPI top 50 teams in Nevada and Utah State, and St. Joseph’s, Duke and USU are three of the seven teams to beat them. Tigers have also improved greatly since the beginning of the season, but that doesn’t get considered when you’re in the Big West. If it was a 12 seed, though, I’m not sure that this team would be any worse than any of the other last teams in at-larges.

-No matter what you think of them, their schedules or their conferences, what Stanford and St. Joseph’s are doing this year is nothing short of special and is serious history in the making. Obviously not losing a game to anyone is tough enough, and when you consider the pressure the media tries to place on these teams it’s just amazing they have kept their focus and kept their level of play up so high.

More again on St. Joe’s. Read the box score of the Hawks’ game last week against UMass and you’ll see 76 of their 83 points were scored by guards. That’s just an almost obscene stat. Part of one wants to say that imbalance like that will catch up to any team eventually, even one on as big of a roll as SJU. At the same time, one theory would say why pass it inside when the guards are getting it done so well? Also, memory serves that Georgia Tech in 1990 was a heavily guard-dominated team that went to the Final Four. Lethal Weapon 3, a.k.a. Dennis Scott, Kenny Anderson and Brian Oliver, scored 89 of Tech’s 93 points against Minnesota in a Southeast Regional Final that year, and those three completely carried the Yellow Jackets’ offense all of that year. St. Joe’s doesn’t have a catchy nickname (Lethal Weapon 5, in honor of Jameer Nelson, Delonte West, Tyrone Barley, Pat Carroll and Chet Stachitas?), but the way guards dominate the team isn’t something we’ve never seen before, either.

-Keep an eye on Rhode Island down the stretch. After getting in a bona fide funk in the middle of the season, the Rams look like they’ve rediscovered themselves and could cause serious problems in the Atlantic 10 tourney. Remember, this is the team that beat Providence at home and also has wins over Kent State and UNC-Charlotte. And that’s not even talking about their near losses to St. Joe’s and Syracuse.

-At-large doubts aside, that was an excellent win Wednesday night for Maryland at N.C. State. The Wolfpack’s halfcourt offense was awful in the last 10 minutes, though, and if they can’t do better than that, their chances of getting eliminated quickly in the NCAAs are quite high.

-Don’t remember what broadcast I heard it on, but an announcer made a very simple but excellent point the other night: if you run a motion offense well for 35 seconds, you’re almost certain to get a good shot. Listening, coaches? And just think, if college went back to the 45-second shot clock as it should, it would make it that much more attractive to run a motion offense, instead of all these set plays that don’t work and then break down into freelancing that results in terrible shots at the end of the shot clock.

-If the selection committee cites injuries as a factor in why it puts certain at-large candidates in the field (Alabama or Purdue, for example), it better give Western Michigan the same benefit. The Broncos, who have only four losses all season, lost to Toledo on Saturday, and a big reason why is because potential MAC Player of the Year Mike Williams was injured in the game and missed almost the whole contest. Not to take anything away from the Rockets, who are a good team themselves and shot very well on Senior Day, but there’s no doubt the game could’ve been different if Williams was in there.

-As mentioned, Kent State is playing poorly now, but 7-0 center John Edwards has sure shown a lot of improvement over the past few years. Once the perfect example of the project big guy, Edwards has developed some nice moves around the basket. It would’ve been fun to watch him and Chris Kaman square off in the MAC this year, but Edwards has probably turned himself into a guy who’s going to make some good money playing professionally somewhere, too. Considering where his game used to be, that’s saying a lot and is a compliment.

-If Purdue misses the NCAA Tournament, as it probably should, it can point to a number of home losses as the reason why. An NCAA team should not lose at home to SMU and Ohio State, and they had more than enough chances to beat Northwestern and Illinois at Mackey Arena. Considering how well they normally shoot there, it’s almost shocking how many games they’ve blown at home.

-Prayers go out for Bucknell coach Pat Flannery, who missed most of the Bison’s 75-25 win over Army a couple weeks ago and passed the team’s trip to Holy Cross and Colgate last weekend while getting a procedure done. Tough time for it to happen, too, as far as his team goes. Bucknell had been on a roll before last weekend, and still finished tied for third in the Patriot League.

-As someone who has trumpeted Creighton frequently the past two years, just thought I’d disclose that I’m not running away from the fact that the Bluejays are not playing anything like an NCAA Tournament team right now. Before beating Wichita State Monday night, it was pretty apparent the confidence level on offense has been near zero, and it was resulting in some bad losses. All that said, it still wouldn’t surprise a bit if CU wins the Missouri Valley tourney. They’ve done it before, and this team really was top 25 quality early this year. If it can somehow recall that, it will be a tough out in March.

-If there has been a more ridiculous statement made on TV this year than Dick Vitale saying J.J. Redick was the best shooter in college basketball in 25 years, it was made Tuesday night, again on ESPN, a.k.a. the network that ‘hype’ calls its official home. An ESPN announcer said Michigan State’s non-conference schedule this year may have been the toughest schedule any team has ever tried. Spare me. The Spartans’ schedule wasn’t even the toughest this year, whether you go by RPI ratings or just the ‘eye test.’ What about teams like Arkansas-Pine Bluff, who played eight of its nine out of conference games on the road and against the likes of Air Force, Oklahoma and UTEP? Austin Peay played at Alabama, Kentucky, Louisville, Memphis, Western Kentucky, Wichita State and Belmont and had three whole home games, and since no one will play them at home, two of those were against non-Division I opponents and don’t count towards the RPI. At least the Spartans only had to play two of their 11 OOC games on the road.

Sorry, there’s no question Tom Izzo put together a tough schedule this year, but how tough it truly was has been greatly exaggerated. There were still home games against Penn, Bucknell, South Florida and Coppin State, and UCLA is no better than average. Kansas, Oklahoma and Syracuse all haven’t been quite as good as expected, either. Tom Penders used to put together tougher schedules when he was at Texas, and John Chaney still does the same at Temple, so let’s can the hyperbole for awhile.

Games you can’t or won’t watch but should

When it comes to those so-called “one-bid” leagues, any conference tournament game is almost required viewing. To list them all would take forever, so in the interests of time, this list will consist of only regular season games. Seriously, if you can find a conference tournament or even a high school playoff game to attend this next week, do so. The competition in March tournament basketball is something special, and you shouldn’t need to know anything about the teams to appreciate it.

Thursday

Cincinnati at DePaul. Big game, for both teams. Going into the NCAAs, Bearcats need to prove they can win games like this.

Hawaii at Nevada. One or the other will be knocked out of a chance to tie for the WAC title. Wolf Pack probably have the better NCAA at-large hopes of the two, and they just don’t lose at home.

Friday

Stephen F. Austin at Texas State. Two of the many teams to watch in the Southland Conference tourney next week.

Saturday

Stanford at Washington. The Huskies might be able to make their postseason destiny with a win.

Xavier at Temple. Don’t count out the Owls in the A-10 tournament. Temple isn’t playing badly, and probably could be a favorite to win the NIT.

Texas-El Paso at Boise State. All that’s on the line for the Miners is an outright WAC title. No pressure.

Princeton at Dartmouth. The Tigers should win, and would clinch the Ivy League title and NCAA bid if they do so.

LSU at Auburn. The Bayou Bengals may need this one with their best player done for the year.

Sunday

Virginia at Maryland. As they certainly know, Terps can’t afford to lose this one.

Tuesday

Princeton at Penn. Regardless of what impact it has in the Ivy League race, always worth watching.

Feel free to email Adam with questions he'll answer in the Audibles section: arfboy37@yahoo.com