Strap ‘em up, kids. Championship Week is upon us!

Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s square off tonight in the final of the WCC tourney (9 PM ET, and why isn’t this game on national television?), and with the Gaels’ #45 RPI, they could really use a win to guarantee a NCAA tourney berth. The good news is that their leading scorer, Patrick Mills, is back, scoring 12 points in 35 minutes in yesterday’s win over Portland. If Saint Mary’s loses to the ‘Zags, it would put the Gaels squarely on the bubble. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has Saint Mary’s as a #10 seed, but I think that assumes that the committee will take Mills’ injury into account. After all, he was out of the lineup for three of the team’s five losses. Lunardi says that the Gaels are safe, but they don’t have a marquee win and are just 2-2 against the RPI top 50, so anything can happen.

But let’s move on to the “major� conference tournaments that will take place this week. I’m going to tackle these one-by-one in the order of Jeff Sagarin’s conference rankings.

ACC

Lunardi projects six ACC teams – UNC, Wake Forest, Duke, Clemson, Florida State and Boston College – to make the Dance, and of those teams only BC really has anything to worry about. The Eagles (#57 RPI) are probably safe, but a first round loss on Thursday against Virginia might make BC squirm a bit on Selection Sunday.

Miami, Maryland and Virginia Tech are three teams that could play themselves into an NCAA berth with a nice ACC tourney run. What do I mean by “a nice run�? Well, Virginia Tech and Miami square off on Thursday, so if whomever wins gives North Carolina a great game on Friday, that might be enough. The Hurricanes are a bit closer than the Hokies, so VT would probably have to pull the upset against the Tar Heels to earn a bid. Miami could potentially get in with an 18-12 record and a #53 RPI (against the 26th-toughest schedule) if they were to lose to North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Maryland has to beat N.C. State on Thursday and then (at least) pull the upset against the seemingly vulnerable Demon Deacons on Friday.

As far as #1 seeds go, North Carolina pretty much sewed one up with their second win against Duke on Sunday. Neither the Blue Devils nor Demon Deacons would seem to have a shot at one of the other three #1 seeds. It’s conceivable that Duke would be able to make a case if they win the ACC Tournament (beating Wake and UNC in the process) and a few of the teams ranked ahead of them have poor conference showings. Despite the brutal schedule (#3) and stellar RPI (3), Duke is realistically shooting for a #2 or #3 seed.

ACC Tournament bracket

Only those viewers lucky enough to have access to ESPN360 saw #7 Duke edge #24 Florida St. last night, 84-81. Apparently, you have to subscribe to an approved internet service provider to watch games on ESPN360. (Great. Then what the hell is my Insider subscription for?) Anyway, the win sets up an ACC regular season title game between Duke and North Carolina on Sunday. If UNC wins tonight (@ Virginia Tech), then the Blue Devils will be playing for a share of the title, but the Tar Heels lose to the Hokies, Sunday’s game will be of the winner-take-all variety.

North Carolina is still the heavy favorite, but Duke is playing a lot better of late, ever since Coach K inserted freshman guard Elliot Williams into the starting lineup five games ago. He is averaging 11.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 31.4 minutes of play after getting just 10.6 minutes in the previous 22 games. He gives the Blue Devils more athleticism in its backcourt, which helps both offensively and defensively. If Duke were able to pull off the upset in Chapel Hill, they’d position themselves for a possible #1 seed if they could go on to win the ACC tournament. But that’s a long way off.

Elsewhere in the ACC, the Maryland Terrapins really needed a win against visiting Wake Forest to get an NCAA bid, but the Demon Deacons finished strong in a 65-63 win. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi already had the Terps out of the tournament, but they had a chance to play themselves back into the conversation in a major way with home games against Duke and Wake, but they weren’t able to win either contest. Now they have to beat Virginia on Saturday (to get to 8-8 in the conference) and then make a big run in the ACC tourney with a couple of wins against the likes of North Carolina, Duke, Wake and Clemson. Good luck with that, Terps.

Duke got a big win on Saturday against Virginia Tech to stay alive in the race for the conference championship. They host a good Florida State team on Tuesday before their showdown next Sunday at North Carolina. The Tar Heels travel to VT on Wednesday. The Blue Devils are one game back, so a pair of wins to close the regular season would give Duke at least a share of the ACC championship. Most pundits have written Duke off for a #1 seed, but if they were to win out and then win the ACC tournament, they could sneak in as a top seed.

As a basketball fan, it would be great to see Duke beat FSU tomorrow guaranteeing that the Duke/UNC tilt on Sunday is for the conference title. Even if the Tar Heels beat Tech and guarantee themselves at least a share of the ACC title, they won’t want to miss out on an opportunity to slam the door on the Dookies. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils need to be careful not to look past a Florida State team that is 22-7. Duke beat FSU in Tallahassee back in January, so the Seminoles will have revenge on their minds.

Joe Lunardi (ESPN “bracketologist”) says that if the season ended today…

- Jim Calhoun became just the seventh coach in Division I hoops to win 800 games as his #2-ranked Huskies beat #11 Marquette in Milwaukee, 93-82. (Apparently, Calhoun is worth his big salary.) A.J. Price scored a career high 36 points in the win. Marquette’s Dominic James is going to miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot. His college career is over. UConn is likely to be ranked #1 next week.

- #7 Duke survived a tough College Park environment to beat a streaking Maryland team, 78-67. Gerald Henderson’s draft stock continues to shoot up the charts. He scored 19 points in a variety of ways, but none of his buckets were as spectacular as his down-the-lane jam in the second half. Check out the video below. (It’s at the 0:39 mark.)

Video

It wasn’t a good day to be a top-ranked team as both #2 Oklahoma and #3 North Carolina were upset on the road by unranked teams.

Texas 73, Oklahoma 68

The Sooners’ lost POY frontrunner Blake Griffin to a concussion and he missed the entire second half, so we need to keep this loss in perspective. He finished with just two points and three rebounds in 11 minutes, so Oklahoma got next to nothing from him. A.J. Abrams led the way with 23 points, which included 5 of 11 from three-point range. Damion James, who originally committed to Oklahoma before Kelvin Sampson’s abrupt departure almost three years ago, posted 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Longhorns. It was Texas’ 10th straight win at home against ranked opponents.

Maryland 88, North Carolina 85 (OT)

In College Park, MD, the Terps came back from a 16-point deficit to upend the Tar Heels in overtime. “General” Greivis Vasquez — I just made that nickname up, by the way — had a triple-double with 35 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to lead Maryland to the win. The Tar Heels got virtually nothing from their bench; Bobby Frasor, Larry Drew, Ed Davis and Tyler Zeller combined for just five points, 13 rebounds and one assist in 52 minutes of playing time. The Terps kept Tyler Hansbrough under control (11 points on 4-12 shooting) and held North Carolina to under 38% from the field for the night. The Terps also had 18 assists to just five for the Tar Heels. Maryland is now in position for a NCAA tournament berth after starting 2-4 in ACC play. They’re now 6-6 in conference and will host Duke and Wake Forest over their final four regular season games.

This loss has to be worrisome for North Carolina fans. This is supposed to be a deep, talented team, but its bench produced next to nothing. In the end, both of these teams are still likely to be top seeds come tournament time, but I’d feel a lot better about penciling in the Sooners to make the Final Four than I would the Tar Heels.