The regular season titles in the four major conferences will come down to the final week of the season as league play wraps up this weekend.
Despite its loss to N.C. State, Notre Dame still holds a one-game lead on the Wolfpack in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Texas and South Carolina are tied with one loss apiece in the Southeastern Conference. Baylor holds a half-game lead on TCU in the Big 12 and UCLA and USC are tied in the Big Ten.
The Big Ten and Big 12 champions should be decided in a pair of matchups between the top teams. Baylor hosts TCU while USC visits UCLA.
The Irish have two home games against Florida State and Louisville, who both re-entered the Top 25 at No. 24 and 25, respectively. N.C. State has an easier time with a home game against Wake Forest and a visit to SMU.
Texas routed Georgia and will visit Mississippi State before hosting Florida. South Carolina visits Mississippi before hosting Kentucky.
All the teams in contention are not only trying to win their conferences, but also secure better seeds for the NCAA Tournament. The selection committee is set to do its second reveal.
Rotating No. 1s
For the third consecutive week there was a different No. 1 in the AP poll. Texas became the fourth school to hold the top spot this year, marking the sixth time that’s happened in the history of the poll. There’s never been five different schools at No. 1 in the same season since the poll began in 1976-77.
Home away from home
No. 8 North Carolina is 9-0 on the road this season, the only team in Division I basketball that hasn’t lost a true road game. The Tar Heels visit Duke trying to finish off the season perfect in that stat.
Climbing the charts
UConn star guard Paige Bueckers moved into sixth on the Huskies’ career scoring list passing Kerry Bascom, Nykesha Sales and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis in the team’s victory over Butler. Bueckers now has 2,189 and next up on the list is Katie Lou Samuelson with 2,342.
NET ratings
The NCAA’s weekly NET rankings — one of the tools the selection committee uses to determine the NCAA Tournament bracket — remained constant with the top 10 staying the same. UConn was No. 1 followed by South Carolina, Texas, Notre Dame and UCLA. After the Huskies, the next school outside of the four major conferences in the ratings was Creighton at 31.
