Championship Week Thursday is the busiest and often the most impactful non-NCAA tournament day on the college basketball calendar. All five major meetings have a full slate of four games, with the Big Ten and second round action in the SEC, the quarterfinals in the ACC, the Big 12 and the Big East.
Let's take a look at the most important games on Thursday in each of the biggest leagues of sports.
acc
No. 4 Wake Forest vs. No. 5 North Carolina (2:30pm ET/ESPN)
At this point, it is clear that North Carolina is the only hope of the ACC to get three or more large bids for this year's NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels were very impressive in their second round victory over Notre Dame on Wednesday, but the team's 20-point beatdown, which lost an overall record, would not be of much help on the Select Committee.
The actual tests begin on Thursday afternoon against the Wake Forest team, allowing them to descend all the regular season stretches and get out of the massive considerations. Still, the Demon Butler is extremely talented and cuts out his heels at this year's only regular season meeting.
North Carolina's victory set up a “You” game against anti-rival Duke, who is almost certainly “win and you.” Fellow Bubble Boys hope with confidence that things won't get that far.
Big Ten
No. 8 Indiana vs. No. 9 Oregon (Noon ET/Big Ten Network)
On the other side of the bubble is Indiana. The Hoosiers have been one of the better stories in the sport over the past few weeks, turning 5-2 after manager Mike Woodson's announcement that he will not return to Bloomington next season, and are probably undoubtedly playing safely outside the NCAA Tournament on the field.
The Hoosiers will have the opportunity to win a monumental victory that already exists very safely on the 68-year-old field on the Oregon team on Thursday afternoon.
Big 12
No. 16 Colorado vs. No. 1 Houston (3pm ET/ESPN2)
This is probably nothing…it's probably Nothing…but we have the brewing of the greatest bid thief tales of all time.
Colorado last recorded 3-17 in the Big 12 this year. Before this week, they hadn't won back-to-back games since mid-December. Now, after a back-to-back upset with nine-seeded TCU and eight-seeded West Virginia, Buffalo is the first team to reach the quarterfinals of the conference tournament after completing more than 16 drops in the Tennessee regular season at the 1931 (1931!) Southern Conference Tournament.
Again, this is probably nothing…but if Buffalo can continue his magic with the shocking things that strike the best team in the league, it will definitely be something.
Big East
No. 4 Xavier vs. No. 5 Marquette (2:30 PMET/PEACOCK)
Yes, this game is very big for Xavier, who is firmly on the bubble, but also for the Marquette team, who need to desperately capture positive momentum before the big dance.
These two teams have been moving in the opposite direction for weeks.
Apparently without a shot in the NCAA Tournament in early February, Xavier headed for New York, which torn apart seventh straight victory. Marquette had a legitimate desire for a Big East regular season title that wasn't too old, but is 4-6 from the beginning of February.
The bubble team is cheering hard for Marquette. The 4-8 seed range team cheers for the musket.
Seconds
No. 5 Texas A&M vs. No. 13 Texas (3:30pm (ET/SEC Network)
Are you interested in 14 of the 16 SEC teams that are creating NCAA tournaments? no? That might happen anyway.
If they work under the assumption that Arkansas has secured a place for Big Dance by narrowly avoiding a disaster against South Carolina on Wednesday, the SEC is already considering leading 13 teams to the field and breaking the old records of most teams in one meeting (11 by the Big East in 2011).
If that's actually the case, the only team at work is Texas, which started its postseason run on Wednesday with Vanderbilt's impressive upset. Beating Texas A&M on Thursday, many people are noting the fact that the Longhorns have a seven-quadrant victory.
