Arkansas knows it can secure a welcomed double-bye to start the SEC Tournament starting with Thursday’s trip to South Carolina. The 18th-ranked Razorbacks, whose seven-game winning streak ended in Saturday’s 84-67 loss to top-ranked Kentucky, sit in second place in the SEC and with victories against the Gamecocks and against LSU on Saturday would be assured of finishing in the top four in the conference standings. South Carolina is 11th in the league and has dropped nine of its past 13.

Temple is trying to lock up the No. 3 seed in the American Athletic Conference tournament but is having some trouble winning on the road of late. The Owls will try to snap a two-game road slide when they visit East Carolina on Thursday. Temple is on the NCAA Tournament bubble despite already reaching 20 wins and could use wins in its last two regular-season games and a nice run in the AAC tournament to lock up its spot in the Tournament.

Fifth-ranked Wisconsin attempts to sew up the Big Ten regular-season crown when it visits Minnesota on Thursday. The Badgers clinched a tie for the title when they beat Michigan State last Sunday and now look to notch their 12th win in 13 games when they take on the Golden Gophers. Minnesota’s last victory also came against Michigan State and the 96-90 overtime win over the Spartans halted a three-game losing streak.

Memphis and host Connecticut will be fighting for American Athletic Conference tournament seeding Thursday, and the Tigers will do it without their top player. Memphis forward Austin Nichols will miss at least the last week of the regular season and next week's AAC tournament after re-injuring his right ankle Saturday.

Sixth-ranked Arizona has claimed at least a share of the Pac-12 regular-season title and looks to win it outright when it hosts California on Thursday. The Wildcats defeated Utah on Saturday to take a two-game lead over the Utes and also possess the nation’s longest homecourt winning streak at 36 games due to Gonzaga’s loss to BYU on Saturday. The Golden Bears are aiming to record a big victory that would serve as the high point of Cuonzo Martin’s first season as coach.

Teams projected to finish much higher in the Pac-12 standings enter the homestretch of their disappointing seasons when Washington hosts Colorado on Thursday. It appears Washington, which was picked to finish sixth in the conference preseason poll, will wind up 11th as they quickly fell apart after an 11-0 start while the Buffaloes - voted to finish third - can do no better than ninth after an injury riddled campaign saw two of their top three players miss significant time.

Stanford enters Thursday’s contest at Arizona State with little margin for error following Sunday’s 73-70 loss to Oregon. While some experts claim the loss did irreparable damage to the team's hopes of securing an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, coach Johnny Dawkins begs to differ. “We have two regular-season games to play on the road against some very good teams and we also have the Pac-12 Tournament, so I don’t think it kills our (NCAA Tournament) chances," he told reporters.

Utah has lost two of three for the first time this season and the No. 13 Utes will need to win on the road Thursday against Washington State if they hope to hold their second-place spot in the Pac-12 standings. The Utes are 16-1 on their home floor this season but 6-5 on the road. Utah has the confidence of knowing it blasted the Cougars by 22 points earlier this season as Brandon Taylor and Delon Wright combined to shoot 11-for-16 and score 35 points with 15 assists and no turnovers.