This is the calm before the storm that is tournament “week,” which runs from February 17 – 25.

Starting a week from tomorrow there will be a maelstrom of tournaments with dozens of teams getting one last chance to fulfill their NCAA tournament dreams. Until then, most teams are either fighting to build a Pool C resume, jostling for position in the regional rankings or trying to build momentum and gain home court advantage for their conference tournaments.

But a few races already have a playoff-type pitch starting this weekend. In most cases, teams are playing not just for home games in the conference playoffs, but for any games in the conference playoffs.

Here are five races to watch to whet your appetite for tournament week.

Touching turnaround: While No. 17 Johns Hopkins and Ursinus play for the Centennial Conference regular season title tomorrow, the struggle for the final two playoff spots is just as interesting.

Three teams – Gettysburg, McDaniel and Swarthmore – are tied for the fourth and fifth spot playoff spot in a five-team tournament (see standings). Muhlenberg and Franklin & Marshall are just one game out while Dickinson sits two back.

One compelling story is whether McDaniel can make the playoffs in a season marked by the death of Coach Bob Flynn. The Green Terror haven’t made the conference playoffs since 1995 when they did so as Western Maryland. Coach Flynn was in the process of turning this team around when he shockingly passed away in January.

While his legacy is about much more than wins and loses, it would be a special validation of Flynn’s work for this team to make the Centennial Conference tournament.

An unlikely team on the edge: While William Paterson isn’t the only team to be falling short of their preseason billing (No. 9), they are one of the few who may not even make their conference tournament.

While our standings page doesn’t reflect the ever-changing NJAC tournament structure, it’s a six-team field with the top three teams from the North and South Division qualifying. WPUNJ (5-6 NJAC) is currently fourth in the North, a game behind Rutgers-Newark (6-5) for the Division’s final slot. The Pioneers have struggled with injuries and struggled to score but they are running out of opportunities to return to the NCAA tournament.

Paterson needs to beat Ramapo, the top team in the first Atlantic regional rankings, at their place tomorrow to set up a showdown with Rutgers-Newark on Wednesday night.

My Lute Awake…or else: The women’s version of William Paterson resides in Tacoma, Washington where Pacific Lutheran is far removed from its preseason No. 16 ranking. The Lutes are 6-6 and tied for fifth in the NWC (see standings), which has just three teams in its playoffs. The good news is PLU plays three of its last four games against other playoff hopefuls. But that’s only good news if the Lutes can back on the winning track.

One down, three to go: With three games left in the regular season, all that seems certain is that Messiah will be the favorite and Moravian and Elizabethtown will be spectators for the four-team MAC Commonwealth tournament. The other five teams are left to wrestle over three spots (see standings).

The schedule advantage rests with Widener who has home games against E-town and Moravian before finishing on the road at Messiah. Susquehanna is trying to cobble together enough offence in the absence of Josh Robinson (pictured, 23.0 ppg). The Crusaders, Juniata, Albright and Lebanon Valley all play each other over the three final regular season games.

Deep Conference, Deep Trouble: When is a Top 25 team in real danger of missing the NCAA tournament? When it’s a UAA women’s team.

Five teams are in the NCAA’s first regional rankings, but two of them (Wash U sixth in the Central, Brandies at eighth in the Northeast) hold their region’s final slot and Chicago leads only Wash U in the Central. The Bears could miss the tournament (checking outside for flying pigs) if they stumble against Rochester or Chicago to close the season. The Judges, who are currently third in line for an at-large bid in their own region, also need to beat Rochester Sunday and/or NYU at the Coles Center.

Of course, this last one is also a little different from the others. The UAA teams aren’t playing for a conference tournament slot because they don’t have a conference tournament. But this still a race worth watching over the next two weeks.

… or as Jim Nantz might put it, a tradition unlike any other. While he’d be referring to the Masters, in Division III it’s the Hope/Calvin rivalry, the best rivalry in Division III.

(Note: Every time I say that, someone wants to challenge it, so I’ll respond now. Put 11,000 fans in the seats at your game, like this game did in the mid-’90s, and we’ll talk.)

I’ve seen Hope/Calvin once in person, once at one of the rivalry’s many satellite viewing parties and once on CSTV. In 1999 I saw the game at a sports bar in Arlington, Va., and wrote about it on the site. I saw it in person in February 2005 in the final Rivalry game played in the Holland Civic Center, Hope’s longtime home floor. And the CSTV broadcast was really just the local TV retransmitted, which was a shame, because the local broadcasters did nothing to educate the national audience about what this rivalry is about or why the game was even on. What a waste.

Hope won the last meeting, which is why we currently name it the Hope/Calvin rivalry. (When Calvin wins, we officially reverse the order.)

The teams meet tonight, and Josh Centor, who writes a blog for the NCAA, will be in the house and experiencing this for the first time. Follow his blog.

Week 10 was a good week to be Violet, and a bad one to be either a Bear or from Chicago. The NYU men’s and women’s teams welcomed their westernmost conference rivals to the Coles Center this weekend, and came away with four victories and a combined 16 place jump in this week’s polls. On Friday, the distaff Violets thrashed then-#11 Washington U. by 25, and their male counterparts followed up with a 16-point whipping of the then-#7 Bears. In both cases the Violets were avenging narrow defeats administered by the Bears in St. Louis just five days earlier. NYU then had a super Super Sunday, with the men nipping Chicago after the women had handed the then-#13 Maroons their fourth consecutive loss (two at the hands of the Violets.) The women, now ranked #11, ascended to the top of the UAA standings alongside #6 Rochester and #17 Wash U., while the #16 men remain two games back of co-leaders #11 Wash U. and Chicago.

Both polls remained unchanged at the top. Men’s #1 Amherst, now just one game away from a perfect regular season, inherited a first-place vote and are now either first or second on every ballot. UW-Stevens Point grabbed the other six first-place votes and moved into the #2 slot vacated by #5 Wooster, losers to archrival and new #7 Wittenberg. Women’s #1 Messiah gained two first-place votes, but still saw #2 Bowdoin inch closer in the poll; Messiah‘s margin is now just 3 points on the Polar Bears. Calvin remained solidly in third, with their rematch with archrival #9 Hope looming this weekend. The Knights handed the Flying Dutch their first-ever loss at the new DeVos Center last month.

The CCIW once again has four men’s teams ranked this week, as Wheaton (IL) upended #15 Carthage and snuck back into the poll at #25. Joining the Thunder and Red Men in the poll are #10 Augustana and #12 Elmhurst. This is the fourth time this season that the conference has had half of its membership in the national poll.

Debutantes:
Women: #10 Illinois Wesleyan joined the top 10 for the first time in poll history.
Men: Centre College blasted SCAC co-leader DePauw and in return received their first-ever poll votes.
Congratulations to the Titans and Colonels!

Streakers:
Women: #7 Scranton, #16 Hardin-Simmons, and #17 Washington U. each received votes for the 120th time, extending their jointly-held perfect records in this, the 120th women’s poll. #2 Bowdoin has received support in 90 straight polls, and has been among the top 25 in all of them; #10 Illinois Wesleyan and #19 Lake Forest have each been voted for in 10 straight polls. #6 Rochester is a vote-getter for the 20th straight week, and a member of the top 10 for 10 straight weeks. This week marks #8 DePauw‘s 50th consecutive week as a top 25 team. #14 Mary Washington has been ranked in 25 straight polls. Top-ranked Messiah is in the top 25 for the 70th straight time; #15 Wilmington and #23 Chicago have each been ranked in ten straight polls.
Men: Top-ranked Amherst is a vote-getter for the 75th straight week. For #7 Wittenberg, this is the 50th consecutive week with a mention by the voters; the single vote received by Lincoln marks the 25th straight week they have rated a mention; and Brandeis attracted voting interest for the 10th consecutive week. #6 Hope and #10 Augustana are top 25 teams for the 25th straight week. #13 Whitworth and #17 Johns Hopkins are each making their tenth straight appearance in the rankings, while #2 UW-Stevens Point is in the top 10 for the tenth straight week.

Milestones:
Women: #1 Messiah is a top 10 team for the 40th time. Fourteenth-ranked Mary Washington is a member of the top 25 for the 25th time. #9 Hope is in the rankings for the 90th time; #12 UW-Stout is a top 25 team for the 40th time; and #19 Lake Forest joined the rankings for the 10th time. #4 Southern Maine and #11 NYU appear on the voter rolls this week, the 110th week for each. For #6 Rochester and #18 Emmanuel, this marks the 70th straight poll with at least one vote. #25 McDaniel has been mentioned in each of the last 40 polls.
Men: #1 Amherst received votes for the one hundredth time this week. #3 St. Thomas has been a vote-getter 75 times. Others reaching significant voting milestones include #7 Wittenberg (110 weeks), #15 Carthage and #25 Wheaton (IL) (80 weeks), #22 UW-LaCrosse (30 weeks), #16 NYU (20 weeks), and Brandeis (10 weeks.) This week marks #7 Wittenberg‘s 40th appearance in the top 10. #8 UW-Oshkosh is in the top 25 for the 50th time; #13 Whitworth is ranked for the 25th time; and #12 Elmhurst makes their 20th appearance in the top 25.

High-Water Marks:
Women: This category is simply owned by the #5-ranked Yellow Jackets of Howard Payne University. This week marks the tenth consecutive week that HPU has tied or set a new highest-ever ranking. Each week it gets tougher; this week they had to defeat two other ranked teams (#16 Hardin-Simmons and #13 McMurry) to keep the streak going, and at #5 there’s very little headroom left. The third-ranked Calvin Knights tied their highest-ever ranking, set last week; and #10 Illinois Wesleyan established a new high-water mark in this, their debut week as a top 10 team.
Men: #3 St. Thomas jumped three places to tie their all-time high, set earlier this season, while #16 NYU, as chronicled above, defeated two ranked conference opponents and established a new high-ranking in the D3Hoops.com men’s poll.

Movers and Shakers:
Women: #11 NYU gained 194 points and 7 places by beating Wash U. and Chicago; the Maroons (-204 points/10 placings) and Bears (-148 points/6 slots) were the week’s biggest losers.
Men: #16 NYU jumped 9 places and 149 points; Wittenberg won at then-#2 Wooster and leapt 4 places to #7, gaining 141 points. #19 Ohio Northern, losers of 4 of their last 9 games, shed 130 points and dropped 5 places. Other large drops were recorded by #11 Wash U. (-115 points/4 spots) and #9 Mississippi College (-106 points/5 places.)