With some conference tournaments starting today, a few familiar men’s teams could face the end of their season.

Williams travels to Tufts in a battle of regionally ranked teams in the NESCAC tournament’s first round. Two teams previously ranked in the top 25, Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney, enter the ODAC tournament badly needing wins. Read what one CUNYAC aficionado has to say about the conference quarterfinals, which tip off today in Staten Island.

Out west Claremont-Mudd-Scripps can write a happy ending to their SCIAC season. Miles Taylor (pictured) and Stagg Nation can clinch the conference title and its bid into the men’s tournament by beating No. 15 Occidental.

In women’s action traditional rivalries ratchet up a notch with Bates hosting Colby, Williams hosting Amherst and Wesleyan (Conn.) hosting Trinity (Conn.) in the NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinals. Meanwhile the LMC plays its semifinals at 8 PM.

Here’s where you can catch a few of those games on the net, including all four NESCAC quarterfinals.

Women

2 PM EST: NESCAC – #1 Bates vs. #8 Colby

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #3 Wesleyan (Conn.) vs. #6 Trinity (Conn.)

8 PM EST: LMC – #2 Concordia (Wis.) vs. #3 Edgewood

Men

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #1 Amherst vs. #8 Conn College

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #2 Trinity vs. #7 Colby

3 PM EST: NESCAC – #3 Tufts vs. #6 Williams

4 PM EST: NESCAC – #4 Bates vs. #5 Bowdoin

6 PM EST: ODAC – #2 Randolph-Macon vs. #7 Bridgewater (Va.)

8 PM EST: ODAC – #3 Hampden-Sydney vs. #6 Roanoke

10:30 PM EST: SCIAC – Claremont-Mudd-Scripps vs. No. 15 Occidental

Please feel free to share your thoughts on these or other games below.

Alright, getting down to the nitty-gritty. One automatic bid is in (Wash U women) and 74 are left to go over the next nine days.

Chicago swept NYU and put the NYU women on the bubble, in my opinion. This game is worth six points to NYU in the Quality of Wins Index for now, but Chicago has to go to Brandeis on Sunday and hosts Wash U next Saturday. They could easily lose both games, slip below .667 in-region and make this a four-point game for NYU. Currently NYU’s QOW slips from 10.636 to 10.434, but if Chicago loses twice, NYU loses two points for each meeting and it becomes 10.26.

Oh, and NYU still has to host No. 3 Wash U and travel to No. 12 Brandeis. A sweep will keep NYU on track thanks to its steady non-conference diet of top teams in weak conferences.

The Carnegie Mellon men losing at Emory isn’t horribly surprising. Emory is just 10-13 but 9-4 at home. Carnegie Mellon and Wash U are tied for first at 8-4, Chicago, NYU and Rochester one game back at 7-5. Remember, no conference tournament in the UAA.

As I write, Puget Sound’s men are up 66-49 on Willamette, though there are 11 minutes left. Winner gets the top seed in the NWC tournament (according to the Willamette broadcasters, I don’t have the conference tiebreakers in front of me), which is just three teams.

Looks like Trinity (Texas) has wrapped up the top seed in the SCAC men, edging Sewanee at home to go to 11-2. Southwestern (no report at home against Centre) could finish 11-3 by beating Sewanee on Sunday but Trinity swept the head-to-head series. Top seed doesn’t mean home court in the SCAC, though — this tournament is at Rhodes. DePauw has long since clinched the women’s top seed and can run the table in the league with a home win tomorrow against Rose-Hulman.

Should be an interesting next few days! Stay tuned, too, with Gordon Mann’s 12 Days of Championships running Daily Dose feature.