Sunday Scroll: Welcome to the Caitlin Clark show

These single-elimination conference tournaments are a BFD. Sixty-eight March Madness spots are up for grabs in women’s and men’s DI hoops, and over 700 teams are shooting for postseason glory.

• Thirty-two national tourney spots in each bracket — one for each DI conference — are automatic qualifiers. In short, if you win your conference tourney, you’re dancing.

Teams who don’t hoist conference trophies still have the chance to be selected for March Madness, but their hopes rest with the 12-person selection committees, who will award the highly coveted 36 at-large bids next Sunday.

The biggest national contenders hail from the Power Six conferences — the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12, and SEC — with most men’s and women’s NCAA basketball national titles having been won by teams from these conferences.

• The Power Six men take the court for conference tourney action this upcoming week, but the Power Six women have had us glued to screens all weekend with trophies being dished out today, tomorrow, and Tuesday.

ACC: The ACC was one of the most competitive conferences, and it’s extended to the tourney action. Regular-season champs No. 11 Virginia Tech overcame an injury to their leading scorer Elizabeth Kitley to return to today’s 1 p.m. ET title game, but the door’s wide open for conference-leading scorer Hannah Hidalgo and No. 14 Notre Dame to pull off an upset.

Big 12: The Big 12’s still in the thick of tourney mode, with semifinals slated for tomorrow. The top contenders? No. 6 Texas, led by conference Co-Player and Freshman of the Year Madison Booker, and No. 17 Baylor, who are enjoying a late-season surge, and No. 19 Oklahoma, whose upset victories over both squads helped clinch the regular-season title. Spicy.

Big East: It’s been another rollercoaster, injury-plagued year for the regular-season champs No. 9 UConn, but with star guard Paige Bueckers back in form and Canada’s own Aaliyah Edwards averaging a near double-double each night, it would be shocking if the Huskies — who went undefeated in regular-season conference play — don’t hoist the conference trophy once again.

Big Ten: The sold-out action culminates in today’s 12 p.m. ET final between No. 3 Iowa and No. 4 Ohio State — a rematch of last Sunday’s historic regular-season finale. It goes without saying that Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark is appointment viewing, but stay for what’s sure to be a tight one — these foes split their two regular-season meetings.

Pac-12: Starting with six teams in the latest AP Top 25 rankings, the final edition of the Pac-12 tournament has more than delivered on Madness, including seeing last year’s champ, Washington State, fall in the first round. Now it’s down to freshman phenom JuJu Watkins’ No. 2 USC and Cameron Brink’s No. 1 Stanford in today’s 5 p.m. ET championship game.

SEC: No. 1 South Carolina — the only remaining undefeated SEC squad — are heavily favored to take home their eighth tourney title in the last 10 years during today’s 3 p.m. ET champ game.

• Standing in the way? The defending natty champs, No. 8 LSU, who’ve endured an up-and-down season but certainly know how to step up on the big stage. Juggernauts, incoming.

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ACC: The ACC will likely once again be a battle of the blue bloods with in-state archrivals No. 7 UNC and No. 9 Duke as the only contenders ranked in the Top 25. And there’ll certainly be no love lost between these longtime foes, especially after the Tar Heels took down the Blue Devils on Duke’s home floor yesterday.

Big 12: Featuring five squads in the AP Top 25, the Big 12 is oozing with talent, highlighted by No. 1 Houston, who enter the postseason on a nine-game win streak. That said, don’t count out No. 6 Iowa State, who upset the Cougars back in January, or No. 14 Kansas, a program that’s no stranger to the postseason and has their own win over Houston under their wings.

Big East: The defending natty champ No. 2 UConn Huskies are the literal top dog with just two conference losses this season. Their biggest challenger? No. 10 Creighton who handed UConn a stunning 19-point L last month and have won three straight games. Soarin’, flyin’.

Big Ten: Led by Canadian star and expected back-to-back Player of the Year Zach Edey, it’s No. 3 Purdue vs. everybody after the Boilermakers nabbed a second straight regular-season title. Their biggest competition — No. 12 Illinois and Nebraska — have also stumbled as of late, making this one pretty cut and dry, a rarity for March.

Pac-12: What team?! The No. 5 Arizona Wildcats are the clear frontrunners to hoist the Pac-12 trophy. But the “Conference of Champions” could certainly bring bedlam, especially considering No. 18 Washington State handed Arizona their lone home court loss of the season back in February.

SEC: Behind the high-scoring efforts of Dalton Knecht, No. 4 Tennessee has made it back to the (Rocky) mountain top, securing their seventh regular-season SEC title since 1967. But don’t take their W’s for granted this March — they lost 85–81 to the No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats yesterday.

Prep some snacks and snuggle into your sofa because the next week in hoops will have more drama than the latest season of Love is Blind.

• First up, today’s women’s champ game quadruple-header: the Big Ten tips off at 12 p.m. ET, the ACC at 1 p.m. ET, the SEC at 3 p.m. ET, and the Pac-12 at 5 p.m. ET. No Sunday Scaries here.

• As for the men, the ACC and Big 12 tip off their tourney on Tuesday, while the rest of the Power Six take the floor on Wednesday. Bring on the Madness.