March Madness: Top 5 Most Conference-Impacting Games This Weekend

Finally, March Madness is upon us. March 13th—aka “Selection Sunday”—is a mere week and two days away. Conference tournaments are around the corner and conference champs will have little time to celebrate before the big one tips off on March 15th.

As we look forward to the last true weekend of college basketball, we at Bleacher report bring you the top five games to watch. These aren’t for the people who only love offensive explosions or defensive domination.

These five games are on this list because one or both of the contenders has everything to win—or lose—in their conference standings with these games. These games include four of the top five teams in the country and no unranked teams, but we’ll give an honorable mention to a game involving someone outside the top 25 and one just outside that elusive top five.

Honorable Mention — (6) Purdue at Iowa

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WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - JANUARY 09: E'Twaun Moore #33 of the Purdue Boilermakers reaches for the ball against the Iowa Hawkeyes during the Big Ten Conference game at Mackey Arena on January 9, 2011 in West Lafayette, Indiana. Purdue won 75-52. (Photo by An

The Boilermakers control half of their own destiny. Nothing in college sports is ever a sure thing, but Purdue should roll into Iowa and win this game going away.

The importance of this game should be motivation enough for them to win it, but if that isn’t enough, the possibility of a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament is still there if No. 10 Wisconsin can win this weekend as well.

Only time will tell, but the bus ride back to West Lafayette should be a happy one for E’Twuan Moore and the Boilermakers.

5. No. 7 Notre Dame at No. 16 UConn

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SOUTH BEND, IN - JANUARY 30: Dennis Latimore #41 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battles Ed Nelson #32 of the Connecticut Huskies for a rebound as Torin Francis #34 (L) and Chris Quinn #2 defend on January 30, 2005 at the Joyce Center at University of N

Notre Dame is one game out of the lead in the Big East, and they hold the tiebreaker against Pitt having won the only meeting between the two teams this season.

The Fighting Irish could vault themselves into a No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament and have a great chance at their first conference title in the school’s Big East history.

A win in the tournament could also push them into the top five in the nation and improve their stock come Selection Sunday.

On the flip side, UConn has had a decent year marred by poor conference play. All eight of their losses have come at the hands of conference foes—the two most recent to unranked opponents. They could use this game to push themselves just behind West Virginia, leaping past Cincinnati and Georgetown on their way to a top-half seed in the tournament.

4. No. 19 Villanova at No. 5 Pittsburgh

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NEW YORK - MARCH 10: Levon Kendall #14 of the Pittsburgh Panthers blocks a shot by Kyle Lowry #1 of the Villanova Wildcats as Antonio Graves #22 of Pittsburgh watches from the floor during the semifinals of the Big East Men's Basketball Championships at

Now, for the flip side from the always basketball-strong Big East, we look to Pittsburgh hosting Villanova. A win at home would cement the No. 1 seed for Pittsburgh in the Big East and would give them a much easier road to the Big East Finals.

Villanova however aims to play spoilers as they would jump past Cincinnati, Georgetown, West Virginia and UConn with this one win to grab the No. 6 seed in the tourney and earn them a first-round bye in the tournament.

They have their work cut out for them against one of the best passing and rebounding teams in the country, however, and their offense is going to have to step up against Pitt for them to upset on Saturday.

3. No. 2 Kansas at No. 24 Missouri

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LAWRENCE, KS - FEBRUARY 07: Phil Pressey #1 of the Missouri Tigers battles Tyshawn Taylor #10 of the Kansas Jayhawks for a rebound during the game on February 5, 2011 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Kansas Jayhawks have the fourth most potent offense in the nation and also are arguably the best pass-n-shoot team this season. They are accurate from the floor and always know how to find the open man in their very selfless style of play.

A win is almost a must for them on Saturday however as one of their own two losses this year was to Texas, the current No. 2 seed in the Big 12. If they lose and Texas wins at Baylor, Texas would skip past them to the No. 1 seed in the Big 12’s big dance despite losing three of their last four—all to unranked opponents.

Missouri can’t do much to help themselves in the standings or seeding of the tourney, but a win over Kansas would be huge confidence boost going into the tournament instead of going in having lost three straight. They did lose by 17 the last time they played the Jayhawks though.

2. No. 10 Wisconsin at No. 1 Ohio State

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COLUMBUS, OH - FEBRUARY 15: Jared Sullinger #0 of the Ohio State Buckeyes reacts while playing the Michigan State Spartans on February 15, 2011 at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Here now is the second half of Purdue’s destiny—held by Ohio State. If the Buckeyes can beat Wisconsin on Sunday, they will hold off Purdue’s charge up the Big Ten standings and grab their second straight No. 1 Big Ten Tournament seeding.

Wisconsin however is an enigma. They rank no higher than 105 in PPG, rebounds, assists or FG percentage, and yet, they still manage to win games. A Wisconsin win and Purdue loss would create the possibility for a No. 2 seed for the Badgers and a very strong cap to their season winning five in a row.

Wisconsin will have to pull a rabbit out of their hats to win this one, but they are one of only two teams to beat the mighty Ohio State Buckeyes all year and could do it again—if they can stop the 20th best offense in the country on their home turf.

1. No. 4 Duke at No. 13 North Carolina

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DURHAM, NC - FEBRUARY 09: Harrison Barnes #40 of the North Carolina Tar Heels against the Duke Blue Devils during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 9, 2011 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

No game left on the schedule has higher implications than the one in Chapel Hill this Saturday night.

This winner-take-all ACC showdown determines who among the tied Duke Blue Devils and UNC Tar Heels will take home the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament and the regular season title.

Duke has been in control of their own destiny all season, stumbling truly only once, to then unranked St. John’s 93-78. The combined loss margin in their other two losses all season is a miniscule nine points to Virginia Tech and Florida State.

On the other side of the coin, UNC stumbled out of the gate losing four of their total six losses before conference play opened up for them against Virginia. However, they have been strong down the stretch besides losing to Georgia Tech and then No. 5 Duke as their only ACC losses.

They were a top-10 team coming out of the gate, but many felt they were unjustly ranked, and they suffered under the pressure. However, the Tar Heels have righted the ship and could pull off the upset at home to take back the top spot above the ACC from their rivals.

One thing is for sure, Chapel Hill is the place to be Saturday night, and if you can’t be there, then the next best place is on CBS at 8pm EST for what promises to be one of the best games of the year.