Conference championships on the line in season’s final week

The final week of the regular season is here, the calendarrounding toward March Madness.

A handful of regular-season titles are already wrapped up.Several are still up in the air.

Top-ranked Houston clinched the American Athletic Conferencecrown, earning at least a share for the fourth time in five years.No. 4 UCLA has its first Pac-12 championship since 2012-13.

No. 10 Gonzaga and No. 17 Saint Mary’s shared the West CoastConference title after the Zags’ 77-68 win last weekend. They couldmeet again in the WCC championship game March 7.

The rest of the major conferences will go down to the wire. Alook at the regular-season titles still up for grabs in this week’sAP Top 25:

ACC

The Atlantic Coast Conference has turned on its head asperennial powers like North Carolina and Duke have not lived up toexpectations.

No. 25 Pittsburgh has been the biggest surprise.

Picked to finish 14th out of 15 teams in the preseason poll, thePanthers enter the final week of the regular season with ahalf-game lead over No. 16 Miami at 14-4 in conference play.

Pitt (21-8) moved into the AP Top 25 this week for the firsttime since 2016. The Panthers can clinch their first ACCregular-season title since joining the league in 2013 with winsover Notre Dame on Wednesday and Miami on Saturday.

The Hurricanes (23-6, 14-5), another surprise ACC team, canclinch at least a share of the title with a win overPittsburgh.

No. 13 Virginia (21-6, 13-5) and Clemson (21-8, 13-5) are stillin the mix to share the crown by winning both games this week ifPitt loses twice. One will be eliminated from contention when theCavaliers and Tigers play each other on Tuesday.

BIG 12

Another season, another Kansas run at a Big 12 title.

The No. 3 Jayhawks (24-5, 12-4) have won six straight games andreceived eight first-place votes in this week’s AP Top 25.

Kansas has a tough week ahead, facing Texas Tech on Tuesday andNo. 9 Texas on Saturday. The Jayhawks pulled out a three-point winat Texas Tech earlier this season and beat the Longhorns byeight.

Texas (22-7, 11-5) is a game back with a matchup against No. 22TCU on Wednesday. No. 7 Baylor is 1 1/2 games back after beatingOklahoma State on Monday night and closes the regular season athome against Iowa State on Saturday.

No. 11 Kansas State is two games behind the Jayhawks at 10-6,with games against Oklahoma on Wednesday and West Virginia onSaturday.

BIG TEN

No. 5 Purdue (24-5, 13-5) has a share of the Big Ten title andcan clinch it outright with a win over Wisconsin on Thursday orIllinois on Sunday.

No. 15 Indiana, which beat Purdue twice this season, No. 21Maryland, Northwestern and Michigan are all two games behind theBoilermakers at 11-7.

SEC

No. 2 Alabama (25-4, 15-1) has navigated off-court issues toclaim a share of the Southeastern Conference title. The CrimsonTide have opportunities to clinch outright against Auburn onWednesday and No. 24 Texas A&M on Saturday.

Alabama has a two-game lead over the Aggies (21-8, 13-3).

BIG EAST

No. 6 Marquette (23-6, 15-3) has its highest ranking since1977-78 and has secured a share of the Big East title. The GoldenEagles can clinch outright with a win over Butler on Tuesday or St.John’s on Saturday.

No. 19 Xavier and No. 20 Providence are two games back at13-5.

MOUNTAIN WEST

No. 18 San Diego State (23-5, 14-2) has a share of the MountainWest Conference title and can earn the outright championshipTuesday against Boise State or Saturday against Wyoming.

Boise State and Nevada are two games back at 12-4.