Teams to watch in every major conference tournament
Major conference tournaments tip off this week and there’s no shortage of storylines as college basketball settles into its most important month. Today, Rivals national analyst Rob Cassidy examines each of the six high-major brackets and discusses the team he finds to be most must-watch in each league.
From St. John’s attempt to lock up a spot in the field of 68 to Washington State’s quest to end the Pac-12 era on top, Cassidy says there’s plenty of reason to be glued to the television as we speed toward Selection Sunday.
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ACC: Duke
First tournament game: Thursday, 7 p.m. ET vs. Syracuse or NC State
For those that live a good heel turn, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski seems to be in the midst of one. College basketball is at its best when it features a good Duke villain and it sure feels like the sport is in the process of anointing its next in line after Filipowski threw a leg out in an apparent attempt to trip North Carolina’s Harrison Ingram.
The intrigue goes beyond that, however, as this young Duke team limped to the finish a bit, losing two of its final five regular-season games, including the defeat at the hands of Wake Forest that led to court storming conversation centered around Filipowski's collision with a fan.
The second-seeded Blue Devils open ACC tournament play on Thursday and sit just two wins away from another possible matchup with a North Carolina team that did some light taunting of the Duke student section following last weekend’s regular season finale. The Blue Devils have appeared to be a high upside but inconsistent group this season, but it feels as though they could level out at any moment.
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BIG 12: Kansas
First tournament game: Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. ET vs. Cincinnati
The Jayhawks are dealing with some serious injuries and are likely to get dinged a bit on Selection Sunday if the committee has any questions about how the roster will look when the NCAA tournament gets underway. Nobody is expecting the Jayhawks to win the Big 12 tournament, seeing as though they’ll take the floor without stars Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr., without whom they lost to top-seeded Houston by 30 just a few days ago.
Still, the Jayhawks have a reputation for being tough in the Kansas City-based Big 12 tournament and will be looking to make a deep run in front of a typical pro-Kansas crowd. A potential Thursday meeting with Baylor could mean a lot for seeding purposes as everyone awaits news on the NCAA tournament future of Dickinson and McCullar, both of whom could return following Selection Sunday.
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BIG EAST: St. John's
First tournament game: Thursday, 2:30 p.m. ET vs. Seton Hall
Sure the Big East is home to national title contenders UConn and Marquette, but this week feels like it could partially belong to the Johnnies, who are attempting to return to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019 and just the second time since 2015.
Legendary head coach Rick Pitino’s first season in Queens has been a bit of a bumpy ride that included a stretch of six conference losses in seven games and a candid press conference that saw the head coach call his team “laterally slow” and unathletic after a Feb. 18 defeat at the hands of rival Seton Hall. The bubble-dwelling Red Storm are 5-0 since that presser, however, and now seem to be on the precipice of punching their ticket to the NCAA tournament. The same Seton Hall team that helped inspire Pitino’s rant could be all that stands between his team and the tournament field.
The Red Storm and second-team All-Big East point guard Daniss Jenkins are almost always worth watching, but this week feels absolutely massive for a proud program in America’s proudest basketball city. It’ll feel even bigger if the man that leads them decides to run back his big-game white suit at some point.
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BIG TEN: Michigan State
First tournament game: Thursday, Noon ET vs. Minnesota
It’s officially Tom Izzo Season, and nobody will be shocked if a wildly inconsistent Spartans' team suddenly finds its footing in the coming weeks and becomes an absolutely daunting draw for some unlucky program come Sunday. This definitely isn’t one of Izzo’s most complete teams, but the fact that the legendary coach has won the Big Ten tournament an all-time best six times is worth noting.
Michigan State hopes to help itself with a Thursday win over Minnesota, a team with which the Spartans split the regular season series. Another loss to the Gophers could create some nervous moments in East Lansing come Selection Sunday, while a win would give Izzo’s squad another shot at top-seeded Purdue, to which it lost by six points less than two weeks ago. Such a matchup would give Michigan State a chance to grab a true statement victory and kickstart the kind of hot March for which its coach has become famous.
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PAC-12: Washington State
First tournament game: Thursday, 9 p.m. ET vs. Stanford or Cal
One of the most pleasant surprises of the 2023-24 season, Washington State is a lock to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2008. If you haven't seen the Cougars yet because of West Coast tip times or the fact that some of their games are broadcast exclusively on the mythical Pac 12 Network, there’s no time like the present. The second-seeded Cougars open play on Thursday against either Cal or Stanford and are a threat to orchestrate a little March Magic by capturing their first ever Pac-12 tournament crown in the event’s final year.
The Cougars are easy to root for as one of the victims of the latest round of greed-based conference realignment and Wazzu’s hot-scoring duo of Myles Rice and Isaac Jones are capable of absolutely taking over high-level games. A Pac-12 tournament championship would be a poetic ending to Pac-12 basketball and a nice parting gift for a passionate fan base that fell victim to the endless chase for additional television dollars.
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SEC: Kentucky
First tournament game: Friday, 7 p.m. ET vs. Texas A&M or Ole Miss
The Wildcats' most exciting and promising team in years has a Kentucky native and lifelong Kentucky fan standing at the center of their’ championship hopes, as Reed Sheppard has navigated his freshman season swimmingly by leading UK to a 23-8 record while skyrocketing into the top-five of multiple NBA mock drafts. Shepherd along with fellow UK freshmen Rob Dillingham, Justin Edwards and DJ Wagner are all possible first-round picks.
It sure feels as though Calipari’s squad not only has a chance to capture an SEC tournament title, but the talent to make a push for the sport’s biggest prize in a few weeks. Such a run would fly in the face of an emerging narrative that prefers portal veterans to high-level freshmen and would likely silence the game-has-passed-Calipari-by crowd … for a while at least.
However Kentucky’s season ends, this version of the Wildcats is among the exciting teams in the country, and watching it operate in elimination settings feels like must-see TV.