Who's Hot, Who's Not in College Basketball on Eve of Championship Week?

For scores of programs and their fans, championship week is not an appetizer. It's the entree and the soup and the bread and the olive oil. 

In power-conference corridors, this week is also critically important, even if not in the be-all, end-all kind of way. Teams at all levels of the standings jockey for Big Dance seed position or a chance to steal an automatic bid with an improbable run of the table.

When five, six or more teams in your conference have a shot at the NCAA tournament, performance at all rounds of the conference tourney is paramount. Here are the power-conference teams who are hot and not so hot heading into a pivotal week.

Hot: Minnesota Golden Gophers

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Nate Mason

Why they're hot: Behind an eight-game win streak, Minnesota is 23-7 and third in the Big Ten. Not bad for a team that lost to 14-16 Penn State in January. Nate Mason, Jordan Murphy and Dupree McBrayer are a three-headed gopher monster. The entire team is beastly in the paint; it ranks second in the conference with 40.2 rebounds per game.

Championship week outlook: If they stay in third place, the official bracket makes the Gophers proud owners of a double bye in the Big Ten tournament. If all other rankings hold and the tournament is all chalk, Minnesota will have a winnable game with Michigan State.

With their committee approach, the Golden Gophers could have the stamina to reach the conference tournament's semifinals or beyond.

Not Hot: Maryland Terrapins

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Melo Trimble

Why they're not hot: The Terrapins were a little squishy in the paint before they lost Michal Cekovsky for the season with a fractured left ankle. Now they're downright anemic. A 14-point loss to also-ran Iowa—at home, no less—was a particular nadir. They needed Big Ten bottom-feeding Rutgers to snap them out of a three-game skid.

"Maryland certainly didn't have the same body language late in [the Iowa loss] that it had in December and January," wrote Roman Stubbs of the Washington Post, "when it branded its reputation on closing games and winning on the road while racing to the best start in school history."

Championship week outlook: Unless star guard Melo Trimble goes off—as he did Saturday in a home win over Michigan State, in which he scored 16 points and hit the game-winner—no individual or group can consistently shoulder the scoring load. That'll put a lot of pressure on Trimble in a small amount of time.

Maryland sits second in the standings, meaning it'd have a double bye, but don't expect it to reach the tournament's semifinals, especially if a frisky Northwestern squad finds its way to the Terps.

Hot: Wichita State Shockers

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Markis McDuffie

Why they're hot: It's been a long time since the winner of the Missouri Valley Conference was in serious doubt. Wichita State has taken the regular-season prize each of the past three seasons. But after serious lineup turnover, the Shockers struggled a bit out of the gate, starting at 9-3. But they've jelled and haven't lost since January 14, a run that's good for a 14-game win streak.

Championship week outlook: They are tied atop the conference with Illinois State. The third-place team, Southern Illinois, is eight games back. So, yeah. This is a two-horse race. The Shockers and Redbirds split their regular-season series. We'll see what happens in what feels like an inevitable rubber match for the tourney title.

Not Hot: Creighton Bluejays

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Marcus Foster

Why they're not hot: Creighton set a school record with its 18-1 start, including a 5-1 start to Big East play. Then Maurice Watson Jr. tore his ACL. The Bluejays are 5-7 since.

Championship week outlook: Despite the swoon, they're still tied for third in a thin Big East, but that 10-8 conference record doesn't inspire much confidence. Bracketologist Joe Lunardi gives them a No. 7 seed in the Big Dance. A good conference tourney performance would help solidify that.

Let's assume for the sake of conversation that current seedings hold. In that case, the Bluejays would face Marquette in their first game, per the official bracket. That's the same Marquette group that beat Creighton by eight on Saturday.

Hot: Oklahoma State Cowboys

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Jawun Evans (middle)

Why they're hot: On January 18, Oklahoma State was 10-8. Since then, the Cowboys are 10-3. The guards are getting it done, with Jawun Evans (18.6 ppg) and Jeffrey Carroll (17.0) ranking as the Big 12 Conference's second- and fourth-leading scorers, respectively. 

Putting the ball through the net is Oklahoma State's raison d'etre—especially from deep, where it makes nearly 41 percent of its attempts. The team's 85.6 points per game is ninth nationally, per NCAA stats, and the Cowboys are tops overall in KenPom's offensive-efficiency ratings. 

Championship week outlook: They've cooled off a bit lately, but back-to-back games with Iowa State and Kansas will do that to just about anyone. We'll see if they can rebound in the conference tournament, where they are penciled in as the fifth seed.

Assuming current trends hold, they'd get Baylor in the quarterfinals following a bye. That's a tall hurdle, and one the Cowboys have twice failed to clear this season. Baylor's rugged interior play doesn't pose a great matchup for post-deficient Oklahoma. 

The Cowboys are as hot as any team in the nation over the second half of the season. They'll need every bit of that mojo to avoid a quick conference-tourney exit.

Not Hot: Pittsburgh Panthers

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Jamel Artis

Why they're not hot: Where is the 12-3 team that knocked off Virginia just after New Year's Day? I don't know. That team lost its way somewhere during the trudge of the season's dog days. Since then, Pitt is a sad, alarming 3-13. That includes a four-game losing streak to end the campaign—a stretch that's bookended with Saturday's 25-point loss to those same Cavaliers. Ouch!

Unforced errors are to blame, as is a dearth of scoring options after senior forwards Michael Young and Jamel Artis.

"We certainly have some weaknesses," Panthers head coach Kevin Stallings told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Craig Meyer. "At times, we've been able to overcome them. At times, we've been able to play around them and play through them, and at times, we unfortunately haven't. I'd say the quality of the coaching and the quality of the playing is the biggest challenge."

Oh, well if it's just the playing and coaching? No problem.

Championship week outlook: It's not great. They sit second-to-last in the ACC and face a game with Georgia Tech on Tuesday. If they win that, assuming current standings, they'd have...Virginia next. It's been a long time since that initial Jan. 4 win over the Cavaliers.