The calendar has turned to March, which means college basketball takes center stage. While everyone is eagerly anticipating what looks to be a wide open women’s NCAA Tournament, that’s still a few weeks away. First, it’s time for conference tournaments, some of which have already gotten started.
Most notably, the ACC, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC tournaments will begin this week, with all of them concluding on Sunday, save for the Big East, which will play its title game on Monday. Ahead of what figures to be a thrilling week of hoops, here are three key storylines for conference tournament week.
Stanford’s historic NCAA Tournament streak on the line
Few programs had a worse offseason than Stanford. The Cardinal lost legendary head coach Tara VanDerveer to retirement, star center Cameron Brink to the WNBA, star forward Kiki Iriafen to the transfer portal and starting guard Hannah Jump to graduation, all while making the transition to the ACC, which is headquartered on the opposite side of the country.
At first, it seemed as though Kate Paye and Co. were going to keep the train rolling, but Stanford’s 7-1 start and early Top 25 ranking didn’t last long. The Cardinal finished the regular season…
