Back-to-back losses have decreased the chances that No. 15 Cincinnati will win the American Athletic Conference regular-season crown, and the Bearcats attempt to halt their skid when they host No. 20 Memphis on Thursday. The Bearcats suffered their lone home loss of the season to Louisville on Feb. 22 and then fell at Connecticut last Saturday to open up the conference race. The Tigers have won three of their last four games and are one of five conference schools likely headed to the Big Dance.

The battle to avoid the No. 12 seed in the Big Ten tournament gets hot and heavy on Thursday when Penn State visits Northwestern. The two schools are in tight pack with Purdue and Illinois for the bottom four spots in the standings. The Wildcats looked like they would avoid this scrum for awhile but are losers of six straight while struggling on the offensive end.

LSU and Vanderbilt are still clawing to improve their seeding for the Southeastern Conference tournament as they square off Thursday in Nashville. The Tigers, who are coming off a 79-61 loss at top-ranked Florida on Saturday, are alone in seventh place in the SEC, but only one game separates them from the 10th-place Commodores. LSU won the first meeting this season, 81-58 in Baton Rouge, and is looking for its third straight victory in the series.

Villanova can clinch its first Big East regular-season title since 2006 when it visits Xavier on Thursday as the No. 6 Wildcats continue flying under the radar. Villanova has three losses - one to No. 7 Syracuse and two to No. 13 Creighton - but is rarely discussed when the conversation turns to national championship contenders. The Wildcats won their fourth consecutive game, 73-56 over Marquette on Saturday for their school-record 26th regular-season victory.

UCLA looks to wrap up the No. 2 seed for the upcoming Pac-12 tournament when the Bruins visit Washington on Thursday. UCLA sees the two-game road swing to the Pacific Northwest – the Bruins play at Washington State on Saturday – as an opportunity to regain momentum for the postseason after a recent two-game losing streak that ended with Sunday’s victory over Oregon State. The Huskies have won back-to-back games and are attempting to improve their seeding for the conference tourney.

The regular season is winding down, and while many teams are fighting to improve their resumes for the postseason selection committees, Butler and DePaul are just trying to build for the future when they meet in Chicago on Thursday. It's something new for the Bulldogs, who are usually vying for a high seed in the NCAA Tournament, but after a 10-2 record in non-conference play, a 2-14 Big East record has doomed them to playing for pride.

Statistically, No. 25 Iowa and No. 22 Michigan State are two of the Big Ten's top teams but the Hawkeyes and host Spartans have been inconsistent heading into Thursday's showdown. The teams lead the conference in scoring and are in the top three in field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense and rebounding margin. The Spartans are 4-6 since an 11-game win streak was snapped in late January while Iowa halted a three-game skid Saturday.

Two teams looking to avoid a last-place finish in the Pac-12 meet Thursday when USC visits Washington State, which has lost seven straight. The Cougars have been outscored by an average of 14.1 points in league play, and fifth-year coach Ken Bone is expected to be dismissed soon after next week’s conference tournament in Las Vegas. “We’re 2-14 in league and that’s not good enough,” Bone told 1090 The Fan. “If people want to criticize me, I’m fine with that."