College Hoops Cheat Sheet: Final ride before the Madness

We have reached the end of the 2023-24 college basketball regular season. Can you believe it? The best part of the year for many will officially get started next week. March Madness is here, and the last weekend will feature some stakes.

Purdue (Big Ten), UConn (Big East), Arizona (Pac-12), and Tennessee (SEC) have already claimed outright regular-season conference crowns. North Carolina (ACC) can do the same with a win against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday evening. Most of the big regular-season prizes have been won but there is conference tournament seeding to secure and resume win opportunities to grab in the final regular season weekend of the year.

KSR’s College Hoops Cheat Sheet is here to set the table for another weekend on the hardwood.

The Slate

VCU at No. 25 Dayton	7:00pm ET (Friday)	ESPN2
Boise State at No. 21 San Diego State	10:00pm ET (Friday)	FS1
Georgetown at St. John’s	Noon ET	FOX
Arkansas at No. 16 Alabama	Noon ET	ESPN
Memphis at Florida Atlantic	Noon ET	CBS
Oklahoma at Texas	2:00pm ET	ESPN
West Virginia at Cincinnati	2:00pm ET	ESPN+
Texas A&M at Ole Miss	2:00pm ET	CBS
No. 6 Iowa State at Kansas State	2:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 10 Creighton at Villanova	2:30pm ET	FOX
Notre Dame at Virginia Tech	2:30pm ET	ESPNU
No. 17 South Carolina at Mississippi State	2:30pm ET	SEC Network
Miami at Florida State	4:00pm ET	ESPN2
No. 14 Kansas at No. 1 Houston	4:00pm ET	ESPN
No. 15 Kentucky at No. 4 Tennessee	4:00pm ET	CBS
Florida at Vanderbilt	4:30pm ET	SEC Network
No. 8 Marquette at Xavier	5:00pm ET	FOX
UCF at TCU	5:00pm ET	ESPN+
Boston College at Louisville	5:30pm ET	The CW
No. 11 Baylor at Texas Tech	6:00pm ET	ESPN2
Clemson at Wake Forest	6:00pm ET	ACC Network
No. 7 North Carolina at No. 9 Duke	6:30pm ET	ESPN
Georgia at No. 13 Auburn	6:30pm ET	SEC Network
NC State at Pittsburgh	7:45pm ET	The CW
No. 2 UConn at Providence	8:00pm ET	FOX
Georgia Tech at Virginia	8:00pm ET	ACC Network
DePaul at Seton Hall	8:30pm ET	FS1
New Mexico at No. 22 Utah State	8:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Missouri at LSU	8:30pm ET	SEC Network
Oklahoma State at No. 20 BYU	9:00pm ET	ESPN+
Minnesota at Northwestern	9:00pm ET	Big Ten Network
No. 5 Arizona at USC	10:00pm ET	ESPN
UNLV at Nevada	10:30pm ET	CBS Sports Network
Arizona State at UCLA	11:00pm ET	FS1
Nebraska at Michigan	Noon ET (Sunday)	Big Ten Network
Wisconsin at No. 3 Purdue	12:30pm ET (Sunday)	FOX
Ohio State at Rutgers	2:00pm ET (Sunday)	Big Ten Network
Michigan State at Indiana	4:30pm ET (Sunday)	CBS
No. 12 Illinois at Iowa	7:00pm ET (Sunday)	FS1
Maryland at Penn State	7:30pm ET (Sunday)	Big Ten Network

Top 10 Games

1. No. 7 North Carolina at No. 9 Duke
2. No. 14 Kansas at No. 1 Houston
3. No. 15 Kentucky at No. 4 Tennessee
4. No. 11 Baylor at Texas Tech
5. No. 10 Creighton at Villanova
6. No. 17 South Carolina at Mississippi State
7. New Mexico at No. 22 Utah State
8. No. 2 UConn at Providence
9. Memphis at Florida Atlantic
10. Wisconsin at No. 3 Purdue

Big Day in the SEC

Tennessee secured the No. 1 seed at the SEC Tournament by beating South Carolina on the road in the mid-week. The Vols have secured their first outright SEC regular-season title since 2008. Rick Barnes and his team will begin the SEC Tournament in the early Friday spot. But the other double-bye spots will be settled this weekend.

Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, and South Carolina are fighting for the final three double-bye spots for the 2024 SEC Tournament in Nashville. The tiebreakers are fairly wild. Alabama and Auburn each get winnable games at home. Kentucky and South Carolina have some difficult challenges on the road.

The last day in the SEC will all be about conference tournament seeding. Kentucky could go all the way from a No. 2 seed down to a No. 5 seed.

Houston can claim an outright Big 12 title in year one

After claiming four American Athletic Conference titles under Kelvin Sampson, expectations were high for Houston entering the rough and rugged Big 12. However, I’m not sure anyone saw the Cougars running roughshod over the league in year one.

Houston locked up at least a share of the regular-season conference crown with a win over UCF on Wednesday. The Cougars now return home and can secure the outright title on Saturday when the Cougars host Kansas.

Sampson’s team is a lock to be a No. 1 seed when Selection Sunday arrives, and guard Jamal Shead should be a first-team All-American. The Cougars are a real contender, and they showed that throughout the season in the Big 12.

Another chapter in the rivalry

Without question, the game of the day will feature North Carolina and Duke in another match-up to end the season. Cameron Indoor Stadium will host the latest chapter of the rivalry after the Heels protected home court in a 93-84 win on Feb. 3. Duke will be looking to return the favor.

The Tar Heels can claim their first outright ACC title since 2017 with a win in Durham. Duke can be a co-champion with a win and potentially set up a rubber match on Saturday night at the ACC Tournament.

ESPN will hype up this event like they always due, but this edition of the rivalry deserves plenty of praise.

Bubble Watch

These are the most important bubble games to monitor over the weekend.

***Memphis at Florida Atlantic: The Tigers might need to win out to earn a bid, but Florida Atlantic could wrap up an at-large spot with a home win on Saturday.

***Texas A&M at Ole Miss: The Rebels are buried, but Texas A&M is closer to the right side of the bubble. A road win for the Aggies could create a “win one and in” situation for Buzz Williams’ club next week at the SEC Tournament.

***Creighton at Villanova: Similar to FAU, a big home win for Villanova on Saturday should lock up an at-large bid for the Wildcats no matter what happens in the Big East Tournament.

***Colorado at Oregon State: The win won’t do much for the Buffs, but they cannot afford another bad loss. Tad Boyle’s team is in the same boat as Texas A&M. Colorado will have some work to do at the Pac-12 Tournament.

***Clemson at Wake Forest: There is no denying that this is the biggest bubble game of the weekend. Wake Forest finds itself in a must-win spot at home after three consecutive league losses to sub-50 opponents.

***NC State at Pittsburgh: Jeff Capel’s Pitt team is in the same boat as Texas A&M and Colorado. However, the ACC Tournament might not provide many resume-boosting opportunities.

***UConn at Providence: A Quad 1A win over UConn for the Friars to end the regular-season could lock up an at-large bid in year one for Kim English’s Providence.

***Illinois at Iowa: Fran McCaffery’s team is hot going 5-1 over the last six with multiple quality wins. The Hawkeyes are a late addition to the bubble. A home win over Illinois could get Iowa on the right side of the bubble before the Big Ten Tournament begins.