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And then there were four. We’re now down to the Semifinals in the SEC Tournament with the Kentucky Wildcats set to face the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats are the reigning champs and have 29 tournament championships. It seems fitting that it’s the Tide going head-to-head with the Wildcats here in the Semifinals as Alabama claims the second most titles in conference history, of course with just six, it’s a far cry from Kentucky’s total.... 

As Yogi Berra would say: it’s like deja vu all over again as the Akron Zips find themselves in the Mid-Atlantic Conference championship game for the ninth time in the last 11 years. This year’s opponent: the six seed Kent State Golden Flashes. Obviously, the Zips have been the cream of the crop in the MAC this season, but were pushed to the edge against Ball State in the Semifinals. Nevertheless, they’re still in great position to earn that automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.... 

We have an interesting matchup between two strong defensive programs set to meet in the second Big Ten Conference Semifinal game on Saturday night as the Wisconsin Badgers and Northwestern Wildcats set to take to the floor in the nation’s capital. Northwestern shocked Maryland in the quarterfinals to get to this point, but the Wildcats have their first ever NCAA Tournament to keep them motivated and dangerous.... 

The Vanderbilt Commodores were a dark horse team even before knocking off the Florida Gators in the quarterfinals; now they’re a real contender. The Commodores stand to gain a lot from another good showing on Saturday. As a bubble team, Vandy is looking for a few big wins to help tip them into the March Madness picture. The next one will have to come against the Arkansas Razorbacks who already have the resume to go dancing in the NCAA Tournament.... 

We lost out on the possibility of a Michigan versus Michigan State matchup here in the Semifinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament. While the Michigan Wolverines did their part to make it happen, the Spartans fell short against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The Gophers will be happy to see the Wolverines as their next opponent in place of the Purdue Boilermakers, but Michigan will be running high off their Quarterfinal victory leading to what should be a very interesting—although unexpected—showdown.... 

So far, the Nevada Wolf Pack has proven why it’s the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Conference tournament with easy wins against Utah State and Fresno State to arrive in Saturday’s final. But, there’s still a big hurdle ahead as the Wolf Pack prepares to face the No. 2 seed Colorado State for the conference title.... 

The UC Irvine Anteaters have used a tenacious defense to get within one win of the NCAA Tournament. They need to pick up the final victory next time out in a clash with the UC Davis Aggies in the Big West conference championship game.... 

The Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners had to scratch and claw for their lives on Friday night, surviving a four-overtime classic in the semifinals of the WAC tournament. They must turn around and try to avoid some fatigue as they need one more win to qualify for March Madness.... 

The North Dakota Fighting Hawks excelled down the stretch to win the Big Sky regular season title, and have performed well in the conference tournament. It has them one victory away from March Madness, but they will have to knock off formidable foe the Weber State Wildcats in the championship game.... 

The Texas Southern Tigers have been the best team in the SWAC throughout the entire season, and are one step away from securing their bid in the NCAA tournament. The last hurdle will be a victory over the Alcorn State Braves in the conference championship game.... 

Two of the best teams in the country will collide in the second semifinal of the Pac-12 tournament on Friday night when Steve Alford’s No. 3 seed UCLA Bruins lock horns with Sean Miller’s No. 2 seed Arizona Wildcats. These teams split their regular season meetings with both clubs earning wins on their opponent’s home floors. There’s no love lost between these two programs, so Sin City is in for a treat to close out the festivities.... 

The No. 7 seed Xavier Musketeers knew entering the Big East tournament that they likely had to win it in order to punch their ticket to the Big Dance. They’re now just two wins away from doing just that and will look to advance to the title game on Friday night when they run up against the No. 6 Creighton Blue Jays. Both of these teams played to a pair of tightly contested games that went right down to the wire in the regular season, so the MSG crowd looks to be in for a treat.... 

The defending national champion and No. 1 seeded Villanova Wildcats will be out for a bit of retribution on Friday night when they take on the No. 5 seed Seton Hall Pirates in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament. The Pirates ousted the Wildcats in the title game last season to secure the program’s first championship since 1993. Watching the Hall cut down the nets will most definitely be fresh on the minds of Josh Hart and company, but that still might not be enough to cover what’s sure to be an inflated spread.... 

The No. 3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish and No. 2 seed Florida State Seminoles will get to settle the score once and for all on Friday night when the teams collide in the semifinals with a trip to the ACC tournament title game on the line. These teams split their two matchups in the regular season with each holding serve on their home floor. With this game being held on a neutral floor, we’ll now get to see which of these conference heavyweights reigns supreme.... 

The Duke Blue Devils and North Carolina Tar Heels possess two of the most storied programs in college basketball history. We’ve already seen Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams collide twice this season, but as the basketball gods will have it, we’ll get one more matchup in the semifinals of the ACC tournament when the No. 5 and No. 1 seeds lock horns with a trip to the championship game on the line.... 

The Kansas State Wildcats played Thursday like their NCAA Tournament life depended on it. And it probably did, that’s why the Wildcats looked sharp. KSU likely punched its ticket to the Big Dance with a victory over Baylor and can cement its status by knocking off the West Virginia Mountaineers in the semifinals. While KSU will be the underdog in this matchup, that certainly hasn’t affected the play in the tournament with two of the top four seeds going down on Thursday.... 

The Big 12 was the home of the upsets on Thursday and the biggest came from the TCU Horned Frogs, who upset the No. 1 ranked Jayhawks to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament. That victory may have helped the Iowa State Cyclones the most. ISU has a full complement of players, a victory over Oklahoma State, and faces what certainly has to be a drained club, both emotionally and physically, after TCU pulled off a pair of wins the last two days.... 

It’s been a storybook season for the Minnesota Golden Gophers and they’ll look to continue the magical ride with a quarterfinal matchup against the Michigan State Spartans. The roles have been reversed for this contest with Minnesota holding the edge as the No. 4 seed. The Gophers earned their highest seeding in the conference tournament, but Sparty is right on their heels as the No. 5 team. The Big Ten has seen plenty of changes this season and no team really stands out as the favorite to claim the tournament title, and it just might be one of these two.... 

It’s been a hectic past few days for the Michigan Wolverines, but they persevered in what coach John Beilein called a life lesson for his group. Apparently the plane mishap put things in perspective for the players, who had a quick turnaround and posted a first round victory over Illinois while wearing practice jerseys and arriving to the arena about two hours before tipoff. Waiting on the other end is the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers, but after what UM just went through, I doubt they’ll be frightened.... 

Though the Big Ten was down in a big way this season, one of the best stories to come out of the conference was the No. 6 seed Northwestern Wildcats who look to be on the verge of going dancing for the first time in program history. All that stands in their way of advancing to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament is a feisty Rutgers Scarlet Knights team that likely had its day in the sun by upsetting a disinterested Ohio State Buckeyes squad in their Barclays Center debut.... 

The No. 3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish will have a score to settle when they run up against the No. 6 seed Virginia Cavaliers in the quarterfinal round of the ACC tournament. The Wahoos went into South Bend earlier this season and handed Mike Brey’s Irish one of only two home defeats the team absorbed all season. Easier said than done however with Tony Bennett’s squad once again looking like the dominating bunch we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in recent years.... 

Fresh off a huge comeback in the second half to upset Wake Forest as modest underdogs, Buzz Williams’ Virginia Tech Hokies must return to the hardwood immediately to take on the No. 2 seed Florida State Seminoles in the team’s second meeting of the season. These teams went at one another in the second round of the ACC tournament the Hokies won last season. The young Seminoles will no doubt be out for retribution, but are they ready for a challenge like this?... 

The Duke Blue Devils won and covered their second round tilt with the Clemson Tigers, but hardly looked impressive. Their reward for doing so now has them matched up against the No. 4 seed Louisville Cardinals with a trip to the ACC Tournament semifinals on the line. The Cardinals won the lone meeting between these teams with ease, so Coach K’s kids better put forth a much better effort to avoid dropping a third straight game to the Ville.... 

The TCU Horned Frogs were in a tough situation entering the Big 12 Tournament opener. They had lost seven straight games coming in and desperately wanted to end that slide. But after knocking off Oklahoma in the first round, the No. 1 team in the country awaits. TCU takes on the Kansas Jayhawks in the quarterfinal round, but will have the advantage of not facing the conference freshman of the year after KU suspended Josh Jackson for Thursday’s contest.... 

The Miami Hurricanes cemented their placement in the Big Dance with a second round win and cover against the Syracuse Orange. That moved Jim Larranaga’s kids to a game over .500 on neutral courts for the season. Now they’ll be faced with what one could argue is their toughest test of the season in a neutral court matchup against the tourney’s top seed North Carolina Tar Heels who enter this tilt with revenge after getting trounced in Coral Gables at the end of January....