Its conference tournament week in college basketball and five championship games are on tap tonight, including one involving #1-ranked Gonzaga. But unless you’re a fan of one of the small-conference teams playing for their NCAA lives, the biggest action tonight is still in the NBA. The top spot in the Western Conference is on the line when Oklahoma City visits San Antonio (8:30 PM ET, NBA-TV).
The Big East basketball race is coming down to the wire. Georgetown holds a one-game lead in the loss column on Marquette and Louisville, but a difficult final push for the Hoyas starts tonight. They visit Villanova (7 PM ET, ESPN2). The Wildcats are right on the NCAA bubble and desperate for a win themselves, having just coughed up consecutive games to Seton Hall and Pitt. The argument for Villanova is built around their success against the conference’s best—the Wildcats have home scalps against Louisville, Syracuse and Marquette. If ‘Nova can add Georgetown to that list, at a time when the Hoyas are the hottest team in the country, you would think it would seal the deal for an NCAA invite.