By Sam Federman
Here is today's Slate Map with a few big games on tap.
First, it's the final day of the America East regular season, so we'll have a bracket tonight. Here are the scenarios for the bracket. Remember, the top seed hosts.
We got two brackets last night, one from the Southland and one from the Big Sky.
Then, the ginormous game in the Big Ten on the bubble tonight is between Ohio State and Nebraska in Columbus. There's still a path to making the tournament for both sides with a loss, given how many good wins would be on offer in the Big Ten Tournament, but even then, the Huskers might not make the Big Ten Tournament with a loss.
The Buckeyes are in the Last 4 In, while Nebraska is the 4th team out. A road win, which would be Nebraska's 6th (and 6th Q1 win) would go a long way to bringing the Huskers back into the tournament after the loss to Minnesota.
West Virginia has a key road game at Utah, where former interim coach Josh Eilert--now the interim coach at Utah-- can put a dent into the Mountaineers tourney hopes, although their resume is probably strong enough to get in with a loss.
Auburn has already locked up the SEC outright title, and has a huge home game against Alabama on Saturday. Is there, perhaps, a lookahead spot on the road against a Texas A&M team DESPERATE to end a four game skid? Or are the Tigers just so good that they're immune to that. They have been throughout the year!
Horizon, Sun Belt, and Patriot League start tournaments tonight. Tonight could be the first of a seven-games-in-seven-days climb for one of the four Sun Belt teams, but is likely not. Keep an eye on Lafayette and Holy Cross, a matchup shining with a few excellent freshmen in Holy Cross' Max Green and the Lafayette duo of Alex Chaikin and Caleb Williams. In the Horizon League, Greg Kampe has the chance to end Doug Gottlieb's first season as a coach.