NCAA men’s basketball conference championships will deliver thrillers this weekend

The GIST: As legendary Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said, the regular-season slate is wiped clean when single-elimination conference tournaments begin — and this week served as a perfect reminder of that as last night’s shocking scores set up some unexpected matchups today.

Big Ten: No. 5–seed Wisconsin Badgers vs. No. 4–seed Northwestern Wildcats, 2:30 p.m. ET (BTN): The once-high-flying Badgers hit a buzzsaw in early February, dropping eight of their last 11 regular-season games. But they showed signs of their January peak in last night’s 87–56 smackdown of No. 12 Maryland. If they take down the ’Cats, we’ll officially call it a comeback.

SEC: No. 5–seed South Carolina Gamecocks vs. No. 4–seed Auburn Tigers, 3:30 p.m. ET (ESPN): These were two of the four squads who were tied for second in the cutthroat SEC’s regular season, but their February 14th meeting was anything but close: Auburn wrecked the Gamecocks’ seven-game win streak in a 101–61 slaughtering. Will the Tigers double down, or will SC do revenge?

Big East: No. 7–seed Providence Friars vs. No. 3–seed Marquette Golden Eagles, 8 p.m. ET (FS1): Creighton was considered No. 1 UConn’s only real challenger for the Big East title…until Providence downed them in last night’s 78–73 stunner. If the Friars can also upstage Marquette tonight, who’s to say they can’t be the ones to go all the way?

ACC: No. 10–seed NC State Wolfpack vs. No. 3–seed Virginia Cavaliers, 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN): The Cavaliers should have their guard all the way up — NC State pulled off one of the week’s biggest upsets in last night’s 74–69 ousting of No. 2 Duke, and Virginia, who narrowly escaped their own upset last night, is not nearly as intimidating as the Blue Devils.