NCAA Tournament: South Carolina locked at No. 1 ahead of shuffling

The regular season finale matchups should provide some intrigue as teams battle it out for the top seeds in conference tournaments and the national tournament.

Friday night, an overperforming No. 10 Indiana (19-6, 11-4) faces an underperforming Maryland at home (8 p.m. EST, Big Ten Network).

The Hoosiers beat Maryland in January and are just one win away from the Terrapins in a crowded field at the top of the Big Ten. If Maryland wins, there’s a chance they could win their fourth consecutive regular-season conference title and the top seed in the Big Ten tournament; if he loses, he will fall in the middle of the pack.

On Sunday, Louisville and North Carolina State will each close out the regular season against ranked opponents they have already beaten. The Cardinals will face No. 14 Notre Dame (noon, ESPN2) and the Wolfpack will face No. 23 Virginia Tech (6 p.m., ACC Network). An upset loss for either team could knock them out of the top four seeds and create a steeper road to the ACC title.

In the Southeastern Conference, South Carolina’s stranglehold on the top spot has calmed down some of its usual competitors. But Louisiana State’s new look snuck into the top 10 for the first time in 13 years with Kim Mulkey at the helm, and is looking to make a run in the NCAA Tournament despite not qualifying since 2018.

On Sunday, the eighth-ranked Tigers take on No. 16 Tennessee (2 p.m., ESPN2), a team that started strong but has been bullied lately, losing four of six — albeit to a group tough opponents including Connecticut and South Carolina. – before winning on Thursday.

Mulkey’s former team Baylor aren’t languishing in his absence, however. The Bears take on Iowa State on Monday (7 p.m., ESPN2), with NaLyssa Smith, one of the nation’s top players, taking center stage as she tries to pull the Bears to the top of the Big 12.