Not only has the calendar turned to March, we are now officially in the madness. Several teams have already punched their NCAA Tournament tickets, but all the rest will be wrapped up this week, leading up to Selection Sunday in just a couple days time. While the UNC women have the week off before learning their NCAA Tournament, it’s a big one for the men, who may very well need to win the ACC Tournament to get in.

Before everything gets going in one of the biggest weeks of the college basketball year, let’s take a look at where the AP Rankings stand.

Men’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. Houston (58 first place votes)
2. UCLA (3)
3. Kansas
4. Alabama
5. Purdue
6. Marquette
7. Texas
8. Arizona
9. Gonzaga
10. Baylor
11. UConn
12. Kansas State
13. Virginia
14. Miami
15. Xavier
16. Saint Mary’s
17. Tennessee
18. Texas A&M
19. Indiana
20. San Diego State
21. Duke
22. TCU
23. Kentucky
24. Creighton
25. Missouri

Where is UNC?

Absolutely nowhere.

Biggest Winners

Texas A&M led the way this week, moving up six spots after closing out their regular season with a win over then #2 Alabama. Also some team from Durham moved up five spots, apparently.

Biggest Losers

Providence, Maryland, and Pittsburgh all had big falls, dropping into the realm of the unranked. Meanwhile, Tennessee have gone from #2 at the end of January down to #17, having lost six of their last 10.

Conference Breakdown

• Big 12: 5
• SEC: 5
• Big East: 4
• ACC: 3
• Big Ten: 2
• Pac-12: 2
• WCC: 2
• AAC: 1
• Mountain West: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

It’s conference tournament week, so we don’t have a lot of big time games already set. Instead of looking at individual games, let’s take a look at the most intriguing fields this week.

• ACC: March 7-11, Greensboro, NC - Final on Saturday at 8:30 PM ET on ESPN: Well, it all comes down to this for UNC. They almost certainly have to win the ACC Tournament to get in, and at the very least they need to make the final. Even beyond them, there’s a couple other ACC teams right around the bubble for whom this week is important.
• Big 12: March 8-11, Kansas City, MO - Final on Saturday at 5 PM ET on ESPN: With five ranked team, the Big 12 is tied for the most, but they have four of the top 12. Seven of the 10 teams are currently projected to make the field according to Joe Lunardi, and an eighth is projected as one of his first four teams out.
• Big Ten: March 8-12, Chicago, IL - Final on Sunday at 2:30 PM ET on CBS: Lunardi currently has 10 Big Ten teams in the field. However, three of them are in his last eight in, and he has Michigan among his first eight teams out. Purdue is the only truly great team in the conference, but watching the bubble teams do battle with each other will be interesting.

Women’s Basketball

AP Top 25

1. South Carolina (28 first place votes)
2. Iowa
3. Indiana
4. Virginia Tech
5. Stanford
6. Maryland
7. UConn
8. Utah
9. LSU
10. Villanova
11. Notre Dame
12. Ohio State
13. Duke
14. Oklahoma
15. Texas
16. Gonzaga
17. UCLA
18. Michigan
19. North Carolina
20. Colorado
21. UNLV
22. Washington State
23. Tennessee
24. Arizona
25. Middle Tennessee

Where is UNC?

The Tar Heels’ exit at the quarterfinal stage of the ACC Tournament saw them slide down one spot to #19. It will be interesting this Sunday if the Tar Heels are chosen as one of the first weekend hosts.

Biggest Winners

After coming from the #7 seed to win the Pac-12’s auto bid, Washington State when from not receiving any votes to the #22 ranking.

Biggest Losers

Early losses in their particular conference tournaments saw Utah and LSU each take five spot drops, the biggest of the week.

Conference Breakdown

• Pac-12: 6
• Big Ten: 5
• ACC: 4
• SEC: 3
• Big 12: 2
• Big East: 2
• Conference USA: 1
• Mountain West: 1
• WCC: 1

Marquee Matchups This Week

Most of the power conferences held their women’s tournaments last weekend, but let’s take a look at some of the important ones come up this week

• Conference USA: March 8-11, Frisco, TX, Final on Saturday at 7:30 PM ET on CBS Sports Network: Middle Tennessee got into the rankings at #25 thanks to a 25-4 record. However, they go into their conference tournament as an #11 seed in ESPN’s women’s bracketology. That likely means if they don’t win the CUSA tournament, they could get left out despite currently being ranked.
• Mountain West: March 5-8, Las Vegas, NV, Final on Wednesday at 10 PM ET on CBS Sports Network: It’ll be a similar story in Vegas, as UNLV goes in as a projected NCAAT #12 seed, despite a 29-2 record and #21 ranking, meaning they might very well need the auto bid. They went a perfect 18-0 in conference play, so they’ll be the favorites, but it could get interesting.
• Big 12: March 9-12, Kansas City, MO, Final on Sunday at 1 PM ET on ESPN2: The lone power conference holding their tournament this week, the Big 12 features three teams right around the bubble going into this weekend’s action.