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

While early-season success is important, it's imperative that men's college basketball teams play their best as conference tournaments arrive.

Michigan State and Kansas are starting to show their championship-caliber forms, and a few other programs are showing why they deserve a place in March Madness.

But several schools are trending in the wrong direction. Perhaps they're not in danger of missing the Big Dance, yet teams such as Texas Tech and Arizona State aren't satisfied with their performances.

The list is limited to programs in realistic contention for the NCAA tournament. For example, Pitt has lost 18 straight games, but we're not much interested in the Panthers at this point.

Hot: USC Trojans

Associated Press

Chimezie Metu

When the Trojans rattled off six consecutive wins to reach 17-6 on the season, it seemed they'd cruise to an at-large bid. But then USC fell to UCLA, Arizona State and Arizona in an eight-day span.

Suddenly, the team's resume was complicated.

Four straight wins later, there is less concern surrounding the Trojans. They protected home court against Oregon and Oregon State and knocked off both Colorado and Utah on the road, moving to 21-9 overall.

USC closes the campaign with rival UCLA Saturday, and a season-ending win should just about secure the Trojans' place in the tourney.

Not: Alabama Crimson Tide

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Collin Sexton

Alabama is the definition of a bubble team.

Did you know the Crimson Tide only have two winning streaks of three-plus games? That's not especially impressive, yet they've defeated three current Top 25 teams in Auburn, Tennessee and Rhode Island, plus Florida and Oklahoma.

On the negative side, Alabama has losses to Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Minnesota, as well as four straight shortcomings opposite Kentucky, Auburn, Arkansas and Florida. The recent skid has dropped Avery Johnson's team to 17-13 on the year.

The Tide would benefit from a victory over Texas A&M in Saturday's finale and another triumph in the SEC tourney.

Hot: Kansas Jayhawks

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Devonte' Graham

Just as sections of the college basketball world wanted to bury Kansas after the loss to Baylor, Bill Self's club started to reshape the public perception of the team.

Following a respectable road win at Iowa State, the Jayhawks toppled No. 20 West Virginia, Oklahoma and No. 6 Texas Tech (in Lubbock) over an eight-day stretch. They recently pushed the winning streak to five with a triumph over Texas.

Not only has Kansas moved closer to a No. 1 seed in March Madness, the school locked up its 14th straight regular-season Big 12 title.

Once again, the Jayhawks won't be stopped until the NCAA tournament—if they are at all.

Not: Arizona State Sun Devils

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Tra Holder

Losing to Arizona at home? Not ideal. Falling to Oregon on the road? Disappointing. Dropping any game to Oregon State? That's trouble.

Arizona State sure is a long way removed from its 12-0 start.

Though early wins over Xavier and Kansas—a pair of No. 1 seeds in the Big Dance—bolster the Sun Devils' resume, they're limping into the conference tournament. Fortunately, they have a pair of potential tune-ups at home opposite Cal and Stanford.

But if the slide somehow continues and the Pac-12 tourney includes an early loss, Selection Sunday will become far more nervous for ASU than anyone anticipated in December.

Hot: Michigan State Spartans

Associated Press

Miles Bridges

Michigan State lost to Ohio State (Jan. 7) and Michigan (Jan. 15) but hasn't dropped a game since.

Although the Spartans haven't been immune to nerve-racking moments—see: Indiana, Iowa and Northwestern—they've consistently avoided a collapse or recovered from a deficit. They're riding a 12-game winning streak heading into the Big Ten tournament.

Due to the conference's unexpected struggles in the middle tier, MSU is thin on quality wins compared to Kansas or Villanova. But that only affects seeding for the NCAA tournament.

The Spartans are on a roll, and they're a real championship threat.

Not: Texas Tech Red Raiders

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Keenan Evans

First and foremost, we hear you, Red Raiders fans: Keenan Evans' toe injury is a significant reason for the struggles.

Still, no tourney-bound squad wants to lose four straight games.

Texas Tech fell to Baylor, Oklahoma State and Kansas during a stretch in which Evans finished 3-of-19 from the field. He'd averaged 18.7 points in 26 prior appearances yet mustered just 12 opposite those three programs—and didn't play in the loss to West Virginia.

The Red Raiders are safely in the NCAA tournament, but they won't be long for March if Evans isn't healthy.

Hot: St. Bonaventure Bonnies

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Jaylen Adams

St. Bonvanture's upset of Rhode Island meant little for its pursuit of an Atlantic 10 championship. Conversely, the victory was a massively needed boost to the Bonnies' resume.

Let's rewind to January.

After taking out UMass to begin A-10 play, St. Bonaventure lost four of its next five contests. Nonconference wins over Maryland, Buffalo, Vermont and Syracuse were nice but wouldn't actually have been helpful if the Bonnies kept losing.

So they stopped.

And highlighted by that mid-February edging of No. 16 Rhode Island, St. Bonventure boasts 11 straight triumphs with only the regular-season finale at Saint Louis remaining. The Bonnies are close to securing an at-large selection, at worst.

Not: Missouri Tigers

L.G. Patterson/Associated Press

Jordan Barnett

The good news? Missouri sits on the proper side of the bubble, and Michael Porter Jr. has been cleared to resume basketball activities.

The bad news? Porter isn't guaranteed to play, and the Tigers are living a precarious life on the bubble.

Following a five-game winning streak that included victories over Alabama, Kentucky and Texas A&M—one bubble team and two NCAA locks—Missouri lost to LSU and Ole Miss by a combined four points before getting smashed at Kentucky by 21.

Although the Tigers are listed in 83 of 84 projections on BracketMatrix.com, that percentage will dip without a season-saving win over Arkansas or in the SEC tournament.

Hot: Middle Tennessee and Loyola-Chicago

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

Why group Middle Tennessee and Loyola-Chicago together? Well, their recent performances and future outlooks are quite similar.

Middle Tennessee has earned 11 straight victories and could extend the streak to 12 prior to the Conference USA tournament. That'd make the Blue Raiders 25-5 overall, which is the exact record Loyola will take into the Missouri Valley tourney after winning 14 of its last 15 regular-season contests.

But if either program fails to win the league, will the committee show the schools enough respect as at-large teams?

Fair or not, the only definitive way for MTSU or Loyola to secure a bid to March Madness is by surviving the conference tournament.