The college football national title game is in the rearview and the Super Bowl is done and dusted. Now it's officially college basketball's time to take center stage.
The countdown to the NCAA Tournament selection show and the beginning of March Madness is now less than a month away. Here are eight storylines to watch over the next four weeks as the tournament field begins to take shape.
SEC's historic pursuit
The SEC's depth has been touted all season long. The conference boasts five top-seven schools and nine ranked teams in the latest AP poll. Last Saturday's showdown between Auburn and Alabama was the first-ever SEC matchup between the AP's Nos. 1 and 2 teams. The conference had three No. 1 seeds in the NCAA selection committee's mock bracket, including the top overall seed. Thirteen SEC teams are projected to make this year's NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. That would break the previous conference record of 11 set by the old Big East in 2011.
Wooden Award race
This season's Wooden Award will likely come down to Auburn's Johni Broome and Duke's Cooper Flagg. Broome's been a dominant force for the nation's No. 1 team, ranking in the NCAA's top 10 for double-doubles (15), rebounds (10.9 per contest), and blocks (2.7). His 18.1 points per game are the second-best mark in the SEC. Meanwhile, Flagg is looking to become the first-ever freshman to lead their team in every major statistical category (points, rebounds, assists, blocks, and steals) and play in the NCAA Tournament. His 42-point effort against Notre Dame last month set a new ACC single-game freshman scoring record.
Hubert Davis' future
North Carolina's lopsided losses to Duke and Clemson are the latest blow to its NCAA Tournament hopes. The Tar Heels' 20-point defeat to the Tigers last week had head coach Hubert Davis questioning his team's lack of urgency. North Carolina shouldn't have trouble finding motivation at this point of the season, especially with a resume-building win on the line. The Tar Heels are just 1-10 in Quad 1 matchups, and a weaker ACC puts them in serious danger of missing their second Big Dance in three years. That's unacceptable for a blue-blood program and will likely cost Davis his job.
Gonzaga's tourney streak
Gonzaga's 25 consecutive trips to the Big Dance are the second-longest active streak behind Michigan State. The Bulldogs are safely in the NCAA Tournament field as a No. 8 seed, according to Lunardi. However, they've already suffered their most WCC defeats (three) since the 2015-16 campaign. A loss or two in conference play usually isn't too damaging for the Zags, but they don't have many quality non-conference victories to lean on this time. Gonzaga is also 47th in wins above bubble, which is a new metric being used by the NCAA selection committee. The Bulldogs should still make the tourney, yet things could get dicey depending on how they fare the rest of the way.
Hurley off the rails
Sure, UConn isn't the juggernaut we've grown accustomed to the past two seasons, but the team still has Dan Hurley, the self-proclaimed "best coach in the f---ing sport." Hurley's outbursts toward officials have grown in both volume and intensity in recent weeks, with the Huskies winning just 6 of their last 11 games. Lunardi's latest bracket has UConn as one of the No. 8 seeds - a position that could see the Huskies face a No. 1 seed in a potential second-round matchup. Hurley will certainly want to avoid that with a strong finish to the season - a stretch that's highlighted by a date this Sunday at Big East leader St. John's.
Calipari's tourney charge
Arkansas left the court Jan. 18 after a blowout loss to Missouri to sit 0-5 in SEC play and essentially take all the shine off John Calipari's hire. However, Calipari and the Razorbacks have since cleaned things up to an extent, winning four of their next seven contests to get back in the NCAA Tournament picture. The standout performance from that stretch - both professionally and personally - had to be Calipari's triumphant return to Kentucky to take out the Wildcats. The veteran coach can make a major statement this week with upcoming games at No. 1 Auburn and at home versus No. 15 Missouri. With a very favorable schedule to finish the season, an upset over either Tigers outfit would give Arkansas plenty of momentum to push toward a tournament berth.
ACC down bad
It was only seven years ago that the ACC sent a whopping nine of its 15 teams to the NCAA Tournament two consecutive times. The top end of the conference remains elite, but the overall depth has fallen off dramatically. The conference has sent only five teams to each of the last three tournaments and features just three programs in the latest AP poll. Duke has rightfully received plenty of national attention this season, but the Blue Devils are the only top-15 ACC team nationally. In fact, Lunardi's latest projection has just four ACC teams in the tournament field, with Wake Forest currently the last team to qualify. That would match the lowest number of participants from the conference in 24 years.
Another tourney team for Pitino
The question now isn't if Rick Pitino will become the first man to take six different programs to the NCAA tournament, but whether he does so with St John's grabbing a top-four seed. The Hall of Fame coach missed out on March Madness in his first season with the Red Storm but showed early this season that things would be different in Year 2. St John's is a sparkling 22-4 with 11 wins in its last 12 games. Pitino's team has somehow achieved this level of success despite ranking 352nd out of 364 programs in 3-point shooting. Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by that number, as his 2012 and 2013 Louisville teams are the only squads in the last 12 years to make the Final Four shooting less than 33% from deep, according to the Field of 68.
