Wake up, everyone! It is officially conference championship week!

While there are still some leagues, from the MVC to the Ivy League that won’t tip off postseason play until next Monday at the earliest, a lot of the women’s college basketball world is preparing to enter win-or-go-home mode starting this Wednesday.

If you want full power conference previews, you can catch them on YouTube and later this evening in podcast form. In the meantime, what are some things to watch in each bracket, from mid majors to the biggest matchups of the season? We got it for you here!

March 4-8
Gas South Arena (Duluth, Georgia)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Hannah Hidalgo. Point blank period. It’s worth noting that media members can still vote on All-America lists and Notre Dame has, more or less, been out of the spotlight this year. Since the Irish now have a chance to make a push up the Tournament seed line, and an opportunity for Hidalgo to make her case as a uniquely gifted player rather than a functionary of higher usage, they are immediately one of the most interesting teams to watch this week.

March 4-8
T-Mobile Center (Kansas City, Missouri)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Does TCU have the juice to rise above the utter chaos that has defined the Big 12 this year? Quietly, the Horned Frogs have fallen out of the headlines even with Olivia Miles having a year that statistically is in the ballpark of her last year at Notre Dame. But that doesn’t mean their ceiling has dropped below that of a possible Elite Eight (or even Final Four) run. This conference is complete and utter chaos, with the bracket promising some lower seeded upsets and past results indicating that this might be a total mess of a tournament. Can Mark Campbell get his team up to win a second title in two years and make a splash in March?

March 6-9
Mohegan Sun (Uncasville, Connecticut)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: I’ve more or less given up on anyone in this league giving UConn any type of reasonable run this year. Villanova made us interested for about a half in February but that was the closest we got. So what’s interesting here? Well, will Nova do enough to make the NCAA Tournament? That in itself is somewhat interesting. An underdiscussed storyline of this year has been that, outside of UConn, a lot of this league has beaten each other up. With bids to March Madness coming at a premium, especially with a lot of mid-major conferences having two bid potential, could chaos in the Big East lead to the league’s rock bottom?

March 4-8
Gainbridge Fieldhouse (Indianapolis)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Is UCLA really that dominant? All signs point to yes, given what we’ve watched this regular season. But March basketball is different and, if there’s an argument to be made against the Bruins as a title contender, there are some doubts about if UCLA has that dawg in them enough to challenge someone like a UConn or South Carolina come April. This conference tournament will be the first major test for Cori Close’s team as “the hunted”. Will they be able to respond in kind and do they have the gear to not just bury a team but to kill their spirit?

March 4-8
Bon Secours Wellness Arena (Greenville, South Carolina)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Can anyone stand in South Carolina’s way? Madina Okot has taken the leap in the last month and become the dominant center that Gamecock fans hoped she’d be when she transferred in from Mississippi State. In spite of a litany of injuries in the frontcourt, Dawn Staley has the double big system she’s always succeeded with. Can anyone in the league stand against that? Does LSU have the juice to win in Greenville? Will Vanderbilt get enough frontcourt production to get past Texas, let alone SC? And what of the Longhorns? Are they still the soft team that Vic Schaefer said they were a couple weeks ago? It all hinges on making it to the finals and how that game goes against the standard bearer in the south.

March 4-8
Henrico Sports & Event Center (Henrico, Virginia)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Can Maggie Doogan manage to bring Richmond to the promised land? While I believe all three A-10 contenders (Rhode Island, George Mason and Richmond) should be in the March Madness field regardless, the committee might feel differently. I’d expect the three coaches are telling their teams that this is their only chance to make it to the tournament so the best way to get in is to win a title. Which brings all the attention back to Doogan, the A-10 Player of the Year favorite and the one player I want to see in the field of 68 more than almost anyone else.

March 3, 5, 7, 9
Campus sites; VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Florida)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: For the first time in what feels like forever, the ASUN isn’t under the thumb of Florida Gulf Coast. Ex-Iowa assistant Raina Harmon has helped stabilize a floor after Karl Smesko’s departure to the Atlanta Dream but their status as world beating mid-major has taken a hit this year.

March 4-5, 7-8
Freedom Hall Civic Center (Johnson City, Tennessee)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Chelsea Banbury’s High Point team has been the class of the league this year and will likely be the Big South’s representative in March again. While she hasn’t found herself on many shortlists yet, I am curious if one of the less resourced power conference jobs (looking at Boston College here) take notice if the former Karl Smesko disciple rolls through the Big South Tournament again. If I’m keeping an eye on anything here, it’s how much we see her name come up on shortlists in the next few weeks.

March 2, 4, 8-10
Campus sites; Corteva Coliseum (Indianapolis)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: The usual suspects are all involved here — Green Bay, Cleveland State and last year’s dark horse Indiana-Fort Wayne — but the season Youngstown State is having adds a little bit of interesting variance going into the Horizon League Tournament. The Phoenix split their series with YSU and also lost to Cleveland State and Purdue-Ft. Wayne. Does that mean GB is ripe to be upset? Not exactly. But if there is a year in which they could truly get caught by one of the other top three teams in the tournament, it might be this one. Keep an eye here because if there is another Horizon League champ other than GB, it could have seeding implications for the greater NCAA Tournament bracket.

March 5-9
Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: This tournament feels like a two-team race between Fairfield and Quinnipiac. The Stags managed to grab a share of the regular season title, with both teams finishing the year with a 19-1 MAAC record. Despite the non-conference schedule and NET not necessarily favoring either team, this is another league that feels like both teams could be at-large programs in a first-four capacity. If I’m watching anything here, it‘s whether or not Fairfield can get past their emerging rival. From a roster construction standpoint, I like Carly Thibault-DuDonis’ team to give a power conference team some trouble in the greater NCAA Tournament. But you gotta get by your running mate in the MAAC first.

March 4-7
Ford Center (Evansville, Indiana)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Western Illinois has the best player in the conference and one of the best mid-major players in the nation in Mia Nicastro (24.6 PPg, 9.8 RPG). What you might not know is that her running mate, Reagan McCowan (who was considered to be the best player in the OVC coming into this year) was injured ten games into the year. So the Leathernecks have had to make do with their star 6’2 senior forward. Can she lead WIU to a conference title after a semifinal exit to their rival Lindenwood last year?

March 5-6, 8
Harrah's Cherokee Center (Asheville, North Carolina)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: The SoCon is a bit down this year and yet, this tournament has the chance for a bit of chaos to occur. Chattanooga has been the class of the league for a few decades and is pretty reliably the representative in March Madness. But longtime rival ETSU has won 9 of their last 10, including a double overtime victory against UTC. Can the Mocs fend off a couple challengers looking to bid steal?

March 4-8
Denny Sanford PREMIER Center (Sioux Falls, South Dakota)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: The Battle for the Dakota Marker is the story of this tournament. North Dakota State finally beat South Dakota State in the regular season this year and head coach Jory Collins is looking to take the Bison to their first NCAA Tournament in program history. Both of these teams are in the mid 40’s in the NCAA NET so I think, if each makes the final, they have cases to both be in. But knowing how the committee works, I’m sure NDSU believes they have to have a title to make a case. That means a high likelihood that they’ll have to see the Summit’s Goliath and their most hated rival, South Dakota State, in a tourney final. If it’s a Dakota Marker game in the final, it immediately becomes one of the games of the year in women’s college basketball.

March 3-9
Pensacola Bay Center (Pensacola, Florida)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: I was surprised to see James Madison return a chunk of their roster and not have the season I thought they would. The Dukes aren’t awful, but they’re right in the mix of one of the deeper conference tournament fields. There really isn’t a middle class within the Sun Belt. Five teams have over 13 league wins, one team is .500 and the rest have losing records. What that means is that this tournament won’t really have the juice until the semifinals but once we get there, anything goes. Can Arkansas State continue their unique three point barrage and ride it to another Tournament berth? Can JMU reclaim their dominance? And what of Georgia Southern, Troy (on a historical program run) and Marshall? Wait until March 8th and then dive in.

March 5-10
Orleans Arena (Las Vegas)
Bracket

One Thing To Watch For: Is Loyola Marymount for real? I guess we’re about to find out. In the WCC, we know most of the important players at the top of the pyramid. Gonzaga and Oregon State are the standard bearers while Santa Clara is usually pretty competitive (not NCAA Tournament level but typically a top four program in the conference). Now where does that leave LMU? Despite a non-conference in which they lost to teams like Nevada and Hawaii, the Lions have rattled off 15 wins in 18 conference games — including a sweep vs. Oregon State — and are the top seed in the bracket. Do they have the juice to do something truly unique and Cinderella—esque this March? The way the WCC Tournament is structured plays to their advantage but you still have to win the biggest games when they matter.