NCAAW
Michelle Smith, Contributor, espnW.com 9y

Ready for Championship Week?

Women's College Basketball, Stanford Cardinal, California Golden Bears, Connecticut Huskies, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, South Carolina Gamecocks, Tennessee Lady Vols, Maryland Terrapins, Baylor Lady Bears, Florida State Seminoles, Oregon State Beavers, Arizona State Sun Devils

The postseason has officially arrived, and suddenly the season takes on the single-elimination urgency that comes with tournament play.

It's time to grind it out, pull off the upset, surprise the field or finish the job.

Here's your Championship Week primer -- five things to keep an eye on as we barrel toward the brackets of March.

1. Momentum is everything

If you are Connecticut, Notre Dame or South Carolina -- teams that can feel fairly secure about their status as No. 1 seeds, your conference tournament approach has to be about you, not about the team that shows up on the opposite side of your bracket. The best teams in the country want to be rounding into postseason form about now, and what better way than to move efficiently through your conference tournament, working on the things you need to do come one-and-done time in a couple of weeks? It's tougher than it looks in the conference tournament format, when you are playing games on consecutive days and trying to get your star players a little rest.

If you are a team like Louisville or Duke or Baylor -- teams that finished the regular season with a stumble or a few -- it's time to get the mojo back, put some wins together and not only improve your seeding potential, but your team's confidence.

2. To host or not to host?

There's a little extra spice heading into this week thanks to a return to the host-site format for this year's NCAA tournament. For more than a dozen teams, this Championship Week is not merely a matter of laying claim to the best seed possible. A strong run to a conference tournament title not only gets you an automatic berth, but it could also get you home-court advantage -- if you're among the top-16 seeds -- for the opening two games of the NCAA tournament. That will certainly be a big factor for the teams living in the Nos. 4-6 range right now, teams like Mississippi State, Duke, Cal, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Syracuse. In his latest Bracketology update, Charlie Creme wrote that 17 teams are vying for the top-16 seeds (and remember, Louisville can't host this season due to an arena conflict with the men's NCAA tournament.)

3. Who has got something to prove?

After Sunday's loss to Kentucky, the Gamecocks might go on this list. There is no doubt that Stanford has lost a heaping share of mystique after a five-loss Pac-12 season that included losses to Arizona and Oregon. Maryland hasn't lost a Big Ten game yet, but the Terps might be feeling like they need to make a statement in their first tournament in a new conference.

4. Unbeaten into the brackets?

Princeton (27-0) hasn't lost, and while that's a lot of momentum, it's also a lot of pressure with the single-elimination part of the season looming. The Tigers don't have to deal with a conference tournament in the Ivy League, but they will finish with three straight games on the road at Columbia, Cornell and Penn. The last two teams have winning records this season.

The Tigers are among the best defensive teams in the country, which positions them well to keep their record intact. When the shots don't fall -- and some days they don't -- it's defense that keeps you in games. And in this case, winning games.

5. Most intriguing tournaments

ACC: Notre Dame is the favorite, but the ACC tournament is going to be a lively one, with Florida State playing well, Louisville smarting after the loss to unranked Virginia, Duke coming back to life with its win over North Carolina, and the talented Tar Heels and dangerous Miami lurking.

SEC: Kentucky's dominating win over South Carolina shakes up the look of this tournament. How much momentum do the Wildcats take to Little Rock, Arkansas? Can Tennessee win it without Izzy Harrison? How will Texas A&M move forward after a season-ending knee injury to point guard Jordan Jones? Is Mississippi State a dark horse to win?

Pac-12: Oregon State won its first title in a wild conference season that saw Arizona State exceed expectations, Stanford struggle and Cal still trying to define itself. At home in Seattle, will Washington be comfortable enough to unsettle the field?

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