Conference tournament season in college basketball is at full stride as 17 different leagues will be in action Thursday providing a massive slate of action for hoops fans to digest all day long. Several automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament have already been clinched, and the journeys are underway for many programs looking to add their names to the list entering Selection Sunday.
Some of the big leagues such as the ACC, Big 12, Big East and Pac-12 are already into quarterfinal action, and many other potential one-bid leagues are ramping up as well.
There are no championship games on Thursday and Friday, but there will be 13 on Saturday and there were three conference tournament finals Wednesday.
Colgate is heading to the NCAA Tournament yet again as the program’s dominance of the Patriot League continued Wednesday night with a 79-61 win over Lafayette in the conference tournament final. This will mark the Colgate’s fourth consecutive Big Dance appearance under 12th-year coach Matt Langel. The win marks 20 in the past 21 games for the No. 1 seed Raiders, who got double-figure point totals rom five different players in a dominant performance against the No. 2 seed Leopards.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will make its second straight NCAA Tournament appearance under second-year coach Steve Lutz after edging Northwestern State 75-71 in the Southland Conference Tournament final. The Islanders shot 57.4% and got 30 points from their bench while winning their 13th game in their last 14 tries. Jalen Jackson led the way for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 17 points, including 13 in the second half after the teams entered the break tied at 31.
Montana State won its second consecutive Big Sky Conference Tournament by defeating No. 9 seed Northern Arizona 85-78. RaeQuan Battle scored 25 points to lead the Bobcats to its eighth straight victory and end the unlikely run of the Lumberjacks, who were trying to become the first team to make the NCAA Tournament with more than 20 losses.
Conference tournaments in action Thursday
2023 conference tournament schedules, champions
| Conference | Tournament site | Dates (Final TV) | 2023 Champion |
| AAC | Fort Worth, Texas | March 9-12 (ESPN) | |
| ACC | Greensboro, N.C. | March 7-11 (ESPN) | |
| America East | Campus sites | March 4, 7 & 11 (ESPN2) | |
| Atlantic 10 | Brooklyn, NY | March 7-9, 11-12 (CBSSN) | |
| ASUN | Campus sites | Feb. 27-28, March 2, 5 (ESPN2) | Kennesaw State |
| Big East | New York | March 8-11 (Fox) | |
| Big Sky | Boise, Idaho | March 4-8 (ESPN2) | Montana State |
| Big South | Charlotte, N.C. | March 1, 3-5 (ESPN2) | UNC-Asheville |
| Big Ten | Chicago | March 8-12 (CBS) | |
| Big 12 | Kansas City | March 8-11 (ESPN) | |
| Big West | Henderson, Nev. | March 7, 9-11 (ESPN2) | |
| Colonial | Washington D.C. | March 3-7 (CBSSN) | Charleston |
| Conference USA | Frisco, Texas | March 8-11 (CBSSN) | |
| Horizon League | Indianapolis | Feb. 28, March 2, 6-7 (ESPN) | Northern Kentucky |
| Ivy League | Princeton, N.J. | March 11-12 (ESPN2) | |
| MAAC | Atlantic City, N.J. | March 7-11 (ESPNU) | |
| MAC | Cleveland | March 9-11 (ESPN2) | |
| MEAC | Norfolk, Va. | March 8-11 (ESPN2) | |
| Missouri Valley | St. Louis | March 2-5 (CBSSN) | Drake |
| Mountain West | Las Vegas | March 8-11 (CBS) | |
| Northeast | Campus sites | March 1, 4 & 7 (ESPN2) | Fairleigh Dickinson-x |
| Ohio Valley | Evansville, Ind. | March 1-4 (ESPN2) | Southeast Missouri |
| Pac-12 | Las Vegas | March 8-11 (ESPN) | |
| Patriot | Campus sites | Feb. 28, March 2,5 & 8 (CBSSN) | Colgate |
| SEC | Nashville | March 8-12 (ESPN) | |
| Southern | Asheville, N.C | March 3-6 (ESPN) | Furman |
| Southland | Lake Charles, La. | March 5-8 (ESPN2) | Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
| Summit | Sioux Falls, S.D. | March 3-7 (ESPN2) | Oral Roberts |
| Sun Belt | Pensacola, Fla. | Feb. 28, March 2, 4 & 6 (ESPN2) | Louisiana |
| SWAC | Birmingham, Ala. | March 8-11 (ESPNU) | |
| WAC | Las Vegas | March 7, 9-11 (ESPN2) | |
| West Coast | Las Vegas | March 2-4 & 6-7 (ESPN) | Gonzaga |
x – Merrimack won the NEC Tournament but isn’t illegible for the NCAA Tournament so Fairleigh Dickinson is awarded the league’s automatic bid.
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