Can you feel it? The excitement is really starting to build now. With each passing day we are inching closer and closer to the decisive conference tournaments. This is where dreams are realized or broken. A good showing can usher you along to the NCAA tournament, a loss can leave you sitting at home after Selection Sunday.
Even if you aren't feeling it, the teams are. Many are playing with a renewed sense of urgency heading into this time of year. The marathon is over, it is definitely an all out sprint from this point forward!
Monday gave us two games and surprise, surprise, one of them was an upset. Not very big, but #17 Oklahoma State took down #16 Oklahoma. It was a four point swing in what amounted to a pretty epic game.
Tuesday brought us a bunch more action with seven games being played.
For me, the most exciting part of Tuesday was watching my niece's team win the first game of regionals. If you remember they were facing off against a team that had five Division 1 commits on their team. I am not sure how intimidated they were, but I sure would have been.
They were down by eleven points going into the half. They came back out in the second half and absolutely dominated. They won the game by three points and sent the other team home literally crying. It was probably one of the most fantastic games I have seen all year. My niece didn't get a ton of playing time, but when she was on the court she left it all out there. I am so proud of her. They face their next challenge tonight. Fingers crossed!
#3 Baylor (What!, they only dropped one place?) got things back together with a narrow win over #6 West Virginia. The other most notable and epic upset of Tuesday night came from #4 Illinois taking down #2 Michigan. I mean absolutely destroying them. It was pretty epic.
If I had to pick one Big 10 team to cheer for in the tournament, it would probably be Illinois. Michigan State beat Indiana, but lost to Michigan last night(big surprise), so it isn't very likely they are going to be in the tournament. Tennessee is iffy, so I might need yet another team to cheer for.
Three games were played on Wednesday night and one was cancelled. None of them were upsets so it was a fairly boring evening.
Finally, last night as I said Michigan State fell to Michigan in their first of two games against each other this week. I am hoping the results from the game this weekend will be perhaps a little better.
Like I said, teams are really starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The time for sloppy play and not being on your "A" game is past. There were no upsets on Thursday either. If I had to pick a standout game, it would be the absolute throttling Nebraska took versus #5 Iowa. Sorry 
Only one game tonight and then a flurry of activity this weekend before the majority of conference tournaments start next week.
Who are you cheering for this season? Will they make it to the big dance? How far do you think they will go? I already know your answers 