Tennessee-Kentucky, Houston-Iowa State and more Champ Week matchups we hope

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN

  • Staff WriterMar 11, 2024, 09:30 AM ET Close Covers college basketball Joined ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

While the NCAA tournament gets all of the buzz each year, Champ Week frequently produces the best basketball of the postseason.Some of the one-bid leagues have actually already provided us buzzer-beaters and game winners in the course of sending their lone representatives to the field of 68, so now we turn to the major conferences for more drama this week.During Champ Week, some beefs need to be settled.Here are the five games

we ‘d love to see today. When we could see it: SEC competition championship game, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN The stakes

in this game are clear. Kentucky is 7-1 in its previous 8 games, and a gone through the SEC tournament would position the Wildcats– shaping into among the most enforcing groups in the field– to protect a top-three seed, perhaps more. Tennessee is chasing after a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament after its loss to Kentucky on Saturday. When the Wildcats fell to Tennessee in the very first game in between the two last month, John Calipari still had concerns about his rotation.But Reed Sheppard, Rob Dillingham and Antonio Reeves have actually emerged as the nucleus of this memorable team. In the second conference, Wood Award

competitor and forecasted NBA draft lottery game choice Dalton Knecht had a career-high 40 points– and the Vols still lost. The 3rd matchup might seem like a Final Four game. When we might see it: Big East tournament championship game, Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET, Fox Editor’s Picks 2 Associated While a 3rd match versus a healthy Marquette Golden Eagles

would also be an intriguing matchup for the Huskies, Danny Hurley’s squad has actually had its

hands complete with Greg McDermott’s group this season. In the very first game, UConn won 62-48 however completed with its lowest scoring total in a triumph this season after it linked on just 39% of its shots inside the arc. In the 2nd, Creighton handed UConn one of the worst losses (85-66)of Hurley’s tenure.So, is Creighton UConn’s kryptonite? Maybe. Trey Alexander, Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner are among America’s best trios. A win over the Huskies could affect their seed on Selection Sunday. However a triumph for Hurley would assist the reigning nationwide champs earn another strong surface before they try their repeat. play 0:29 Iowa State hits outrageous fadeaway late to hand Houston its first loss Milan Momcilovic hits a hard jumper with two defenders on him to give Iowa State the late lead vs. Houston. When we might see it: Huge 12 tournament

national championship, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN Guys’s Tournament Difficulty Complete your bracket by choosing the winner for each game of the 2024 males’s NCAA competition. Play Guys’s Competition Difficulty The Cougars have actually not been beat considering that suffering a Feb. 3 loss at Kansas Jayhawks. Getting in the

season, a 3rd game between Houston and the Jayhawks seemed like the very best matchup to expect in the Huge 12 tournament. But then the Jayhawks were squashed by the Cougars on Saturday and Bill Self’s group is not healthy. Go Into Iowa State, which completed second to Houston in the Huge 12 race and is among simply 2 league teams that divided its 2 games versus Kelvin Sampson’s team this season. On Jan. 9, Tamin Lipsey tape-recorded 14 points as the Cyclones held Jamal Shead and Co. to a season-low 53 points in Ames.Houston could protect the top general seed in the NCAA tournament with a Huge 12 tournament champion– if it hasn’t already locked it up– and Iowa State

could ensure a spot on the 2-line with a victory over the Cougars. However this is the most competitive title game, it seems, the league can produce. play 2:13 Saint Mary’s wins wild game over Gonzaga on the road Saint Mary’s hangs on late vs. Gonzaga in a wild surface to extend its lead in the West Coast Conference. When we might see it: WCC tournament championship game, Tuesday

, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN Champ Week 2024 Get basketball competition action: 425-plus games throughout 26 conferences streaming on ESPN+, consisting of the AAC, Big 12, and West Coast Conference. Male’s|Women’s
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After an uninspired start, Gonzaga won 24 games, Mark Few’s lowest win overall since the 2002-03 season. That overall includes finishing 13-1 in their last 14 games– Graham Ike has averaged 23.2 PPG over the last seven– including a win over Kentucky. The Zags had been considered as a bubble team up until that rally however are now an at-large team in the two-bid WCC. However this matchup matters beyond the rivalry in between two squads that divide their conference games this year. A WCC competition championship this season could be the difference between a favorable opening round matchup and a more challenging first game. (Likewise, this rivalry hardly ever disappoints.)

When we could see it: Mountain West tournament championship game, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET, CBS

In his first season at Utah State, coach Danny Sprinkle won the Mountain West’s regular-season crown, despite the fact that he didn’t return any players from last season who had scored a point for the Aggies. He’s now a National Coach of the Year candidate and will be coveted by other programs. One of the couple of losses the Aggies suffered this season (77-63) took place at the hands of the Wolf Load at home. Nevada huge male Nick Davidson scored 25 points in that single conference. Steve Alford’s squad completed the routine season get in the Mountain West tournament on a seven-game winning streak after ended up the regular season connected for 2nd location in the standings behind first-place Utah State.A matchup between these 2 in the title game would be another feather in the cap for a league that might have as lots of quotes on Selection Sunday as the Pac-12 and ACC combined.