March Madness 2023: Tar Heels’ NCAA tourney hopes precarious

March Madness is coming up fast. Here is what to know along withsome key games to watch and who’s on the bubble ahead of SelectionSunday for the NCAA Tournament:

KEY DATES

All eyes will be on the conference tournaments this week:

— The ACC Tournament starts things off March 7-11 in Greensboro,North Carolina.

— The Big 12 Tournament will be March 8-11 in Kansas City,Missouri.

— The Big Ten Tournament will be March 8-12 in Chicago.

— The Big East Tournament will be March 8-11 in New York.

— The Pac-12 Tournament will be March 8-11 in Las Vegas.

— The SEC Tournament will be March 8-12 in Nashville,Tennessee.

MARCH MADNESS

Selection Sunday is March 12, when bracket matchups will be setfor the First Four and first- and second-round games that stretchfrom Florida to California.

Sweet 16 weekend will see games in New York City (East Region),Las Vegas (West), Kansas City, Missouri (Midwest), and Louisville,Kentucky (South).

Where is the Final Four? In Houston, on April 1, with thechampionship game on April 3.

Basketball aficionados, take note: The women’s NCAA Tournamentwill hold its Final Four in Dallas, a four-hour drive up the roadfrom Houston.

BETTING GUIDE

Who’s going to win the national championship? With the regularseason over, the betting favorites as of this week to reach theFinal Four are Houston, Alabama, Kansas and UCLA, according toFanDuel Sportsbook. That differs from the top teams in the NCAA’sinitial seed watch, which had Purdue in the top four, not UCLA. Allof this matches many of the teams in the AP Top 25, too.

WHO’S IN

These teams are already going dancing after landing theirleague’s automatic bid: Gonzaga (West Coast, 28-5), Kennesaw State(26-8, Atlantic Sun), UNC Asheville (27-7, Big South), FairleighDickinson (19-14, Northeast), Drake (27-7, Missouri Valley), Furman(27-7, Southern), Louisiana-Lafayette (26-7, Sun Belt), SoutheastMissouri State (19-16, Ohio Valley), College of Charleston (31-3,Colonial Athletic) and Oral Roberts (30-4, Summit).

BUBBLE WATCH

North Carolina (19-12). The Tar Heels had a chance to strengthentheir NCAA Tournament chances against Duke last weekend and failedwith a 62-57 loss. Now the preseason No. 1 needs to avoid an earlyexit in this week’s ACC Tournament or Selection Sunday could be avery nervous day.

Arizona State (20-11). The Sun Devils picked up a hugeresume-boosting win at No. 8 Arizona on Desmond Cambridge Jr.’s60-foot buzzer beater. Getting swept on the road by the Pac-12′sSouthern California teams puts them in the position of possiblyneeding a couple of wins in the conference tournament to get intothe field of 68.

Wisconsin (17-13). The Badgers missed an opportunity with atwo-point loss to No. 5 Purdue in their penultimate regular-seasongame. Wisconsin could use a good run in the Big Ten Tournament,starting Wednesday against Ohio State.

WAC: Utah Valley won the Western Athletic Conference’sregular-season title, but is not the No. 1 seed in this week’sconference tournament in Las Vegas. Sam Houston, which finished ahalf-game behind the Wolverines, got the No. 1 seed based on theconference’s new, analytics-based seeding model. It could be awacky week in the WAC.

GAME(S) TO WATCH

Providence (21-10) vs. No. 11 UConn, Big East Tournamentquarterfinals, Thursday, 2:30 p.m. Eastern (FS1). The Friars hadbeen in solid NCAA Tournament shape before closing the regularseason with home losses to No. 15 Xavier and Seton Hall. Beatingthe Huskies could give Providence a huge boost. The teams splittheir matchups this season, each winning at home by 12.

Auburn (20-11) vs. Arkansas (19-12), SEC Tournamentquarterfinals, Thursday, 7 p.m. Eastern (SECN). As statement winsgo, the Tigers’ 79-70 takedown of No. 17 Tennessee in theregular-season finale was massive. Auburn faces another toughchallenge in its SEC Tournament opener against Arkansas. TheRazorbacks closed the regular season with three straight losses, sowinning at least one game in Nashville would make them feel a wholelo better on Selection Sunday.