One of the most important months in sports is underway. The NFL season draws to a close, the Daytona 500 will kick off the NASCAR season, and Spring Training begins in the MLB. This is also the last month of the college basketball regular season. Seasons will be ended this month at the power conference and mid-major level. The clock is ticking down to Selection Sunday.

Monday: North Texas Mean Green (16-5, 7-2 American) @ UAB Blazers (14-8, 7-2 American)

It will be a battle between potential bid-stealers in Birmingham. North Texas (KenPom 60) has had one of the strongest mid-major programs of the 2020s, picking up an NIT championship and an NCAA Tournament win. The bad news is the Mean Green just lost to UTSA and had to attempt to come back from 17 down just to lose by four. Not only is North Texas tied with UAB, but now Temple and Tulane are just one game behind the Mean Green for second place.

How will the Mean Green defense handle Yaxel Lendeborg and UAB (KP 108)? The Blazers’ only blemishes in conference play are losses to Memphis and North Texas. They also are the last team to score 70 points or more against North Texas. Since that game, North Texas has allowed just 60.4 points per game. Can UAB break through?

When and where: 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN2

Tuesday: Drake Bulldogs (20-2, 10-2 MVC) @ Murray State Racers (11-12, 5-7 MVC)

The Bulldogs (KP 64) are back on a roll. A 2-2 start to conference play has quickly been turned around and now Drake is one of four teams in America with 20 wins. This team is a shining example that talent can be found at all levels of play. First-year head coach Ben McCollum brought his guys (Bennett Stirtz, Mitch Mascari, Daniel Abreu, Isaiah Jackson) with him from Division II’s Northwest Missouri State and got Tavion Banks from Northwest Florida State, one of the best JuCo programs in the country. If the Bulldogs roll through February unblemished, the possibility of a two-bid Missouri Valley may be alive.

Murray State (KP 164), despite its sub-.500 record, is one of the two teams to have beaten Drake this season. The Racers need a win and they need it badly; they’ve lost five of six and have plummeted into a tie for eighth with Indiana State. Jacobi Wood put up a career-high 29 points in the loss against Evansville on Wednesday, he may need to break 30 in order to break his team’s slump.

When and where: 7 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPN+

Wednesday: Arkansas State Red Wolves (18-5, 9-2 Sun Belt) @ Marshall Thundering Herd (14-10, 7-4 Sun Belt)

Arkansas State (KP 87) has put together a great season, including a broken record and a Top 25 win. The Red Wolves are on a roll, having won seven in a row and sixth straight by double digits. Watch out for Kobe Julien, he’ll be crashing the boards with authority as seen against Texas State (19 points, 10 rebounds).

The Red Wolves will look to take care of Marshall (KP 188), who will likely match Nate Martin (9.5/7.9/2.0) up against Julien. Marshall has won four of its last five and six of eight, but the average KenPom rating of teams it’s faced over that stretch is 254.8. This will be a good gauge of where Marshall is, really, in terms of the Sun Belt hierarchy.

When and where: 9 p.m. on ESPNU/ESPN+

Thursday: Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders (15-7, 6-3 CUSA) @ Jacksonville State Gamecocks (15-7, 7-2 CUSA)

The top two teams in Conference USA will clash in northeastern Alabama. Middle Tennessee State (KP 121) has cut a lot of its games close this season. Nine of the Blue Raiders’ games this season have been determined by six points or less and they’ve gone 6-3 in those games. Who will be the one to take the clutch shot? Will it be leading scorer Jestin Porter (16.0 PPG)? Perhaps leading rebounder Essam Mostafa (13.5 and 9.0) will make a play in the paint?

This is about as evenly matched a game on paper as there could be this season. Jacksonville State (KP 124) has one of the top ten scorers in the nation in Jaron Pierre Jr. (20.3 PPG), but it could be higher if he picks up on his calendar year average of 16.1 PPG. His 22 points against Middle Tennessee State were not enough the last time they played, as that one went the Blue Raiders’ way, 81-64. There are serious seeding implications at play here. This may be an early indicator of who has the top seed in the Conference USA tournament.

When and where: 7 p.m. on ESPN+

Friday: Saint Louis Billikens (13-9, 6-3 Atlantic 10) @ Saint Joseph’s Hawks (13-9, 4-5 Atlantic 10)

The Billikens (KP 109) have lost two of their three but effectively popped VCU’s bubble in an emotional rematch. The Indiana State imports have continued to play well and Gibson Jimerson is still pacing the team in scoring. Will this be the year that Robbie Avila makes the NCAA Tournament after being denied last year?

Saint Joseph’s (KP 88) has one of the most confusing resumes in all of college basketball. The Hawks have wins over Texas Tech (AP #13, KP 9) and Villanova (KP 55), but also have losses to Central Connecticut (KP 192), Duquesne (KP 155), and Princeton (KP 129). The Hawks also have not had consecutive wins this calendar year. This team has scoring options and great ones at that (Xzayvier Brown, 16.1 PPG; Erik Reynolds II, 15.9 PPG; Rasheer Fleming, 15.5 PPG). It feels like Saint Joseph’s has had the pieces in place for a while, but they’ve never fallen into place. Will this be the year?

When and where: 9 p.m. on ESPNU/ESPN+

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