Conference tournaments are well underway. The bubble is popping for some teams, while others are playing themselves into higher seedings as Selection Sunday looms.

On Saturday, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and a slew of midmajors are battling in their conference tournament semifinals. The Big East is competing in the quarterfinals.

Our women’s basketball experts at The Athletic are here with their takeaways as teams fight for a conference title.

Did Notre Dame lose No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed?

The Irish entered the ACC tournament not only looking to defend last year’s conference tournament title but also to potentially solidify a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Those hopes seemed dashed, however, as Duke bounced Notre Dame out of the tournament semifinals with a 61-56 win.

Notre Dame scored a season-low 56 points, almost 30 points below its 85.7-point average, stifled by the Blue Devils’ grinding defense. The Irish made only five baskets in the first 15 minutes of the second half and finished the loss shooting just 37.5 percent from the field.

Star Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo scored 23 points, but she received little help on offense. Her star backcourt partner Olivia Miles didn’t play for more than half of the fourth quarter after appearing to roll her left ankle early in the period. With both guards limited, the Irish offense didn’t click as it has all season.

If the Irish are looking for positives, they can cite their defense, which allowed as many Duke field goals (21) as it forced Duke turnovers. Still, Notre Dame will head into the NCAA Tournament needing to reset after a recent string of upset losses.

The Irish lost twice in the final week of February, falling to NC State and Florida State. Although it was able to rebound in their regular season finale against Louisville and in their ACC tournament opener against Cal, Notre Dame hasn’t shot above 50 percent from the field since early February. After amassing a 19-game win streak during the regular season, they’ll enter the NCAA Tournament with three losses in their last five games. Their string of dominance feels like it was a long time ago. They’ll hope to go on an NCAA Tournament run, likely as a No. 2 seed.

Edwards helps South Carolina make its No. 1 case

Joyce Edwards is still getting used to the spotlight that comes with high-profile college basketball, and she didn’t want her first SEC tournament post-game, on-court interview to be derailed. So as Edwards’ teammates mobbed her after her 21-point, five-rebound performance in South Carolina’s 93-75 win over Oklahoma in the semifinals, Edwards did her best to kindly shoo them away.

“OK. OK. OK,” she repeated, before fielding questions from ESPN’s Holly Rowe.

The Gamecocks have now advanced to six consecutive tournament title games, a record that not even Pat Summitt’s Tennessee teams amassed. It was also South Carolina’s 10th SEC final in 11 years.

Edwards starred in South Carolina’s blowout victory. Throughout the regular season, the 6-foot-3 forward was the Gamecocks’ leading scorer, even though she came off the bench. That she produced to that level is a testament to her willingness to accept any role and a reflection of her ability to impact games when called upon.

“She’s a shot-maker. She’s a shot-creator,” coach Dawn Staley said. “She’s the ultimate competitor. She just wants to win, and she bets on herself, knowing that she can contribute.”

Against the Sooners, Edwards knocked down open mid-range jumpers when she noticed space. She scored around Oklahoma center Raegan Beers in the low block. On the other end, she was part of South Carolina’s deep frontcourt that held Beers to only seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.

The Gamecocks have led games by 20 points or more in 25 of their 32 games this season. As they prepare to claim another conference tournament title, they are all but guaranteed to be a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament. Their depth continues to help them excel, but Edwards appears to be a star in the making, too.

USC’s Big Two power the Trojans

USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb has started nearly every news conference and interview this season by touting JuJu Watkins and Kiki Iriafen as the best duo in the country. On Saturday afternoon, after an 82-70 Big Ten tournament semifinal win over a hot Michigan team, Watkins and Iriafen certainly looked the part.

Iriafen finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds, and Waktins poured in 20 points and 11 boards. Iriafen, who Gottlieb called an “absolute beast” after the game, carried the load early for USC as Michigan’s Syla Swords (who hadn’t played in the first matchup against USC) corralled Watkins, holding her to single-digit scoring until late in the third quarter.

But in the fourth quarter, the nation’s top player simply wouldn’t be stopped. Watkins scored 11 fourth-quarter points and helped spur a fourth-quarter 14-0 run, after the Wolverines had tied it up at 60, which ultimately separated USC from Michigan.

Their one-two punch has been a nearly unstoppable force, and with those two playing at this elite level in March, it seems as though the dreams of what could be — beginning after Iriafen transferred to USC from Stanford last offseason — are coming to fruition at the perfect time.

Offensively, they’ve balanced each other and created chemistry despite playing together for only one season. On defense, their playmaking has made the Trojans one of the nation’s most disruptive teams. USC is the only team that averages at least 10 steals and seven blocks a game.

But Gottlieb also likes how the Trojans, comprised largely of first-year players (between transfers and freshmen) around Watkins and Iriafen have come into their own toward the tail end of this season, setting up the Trojans for a deep NCAA Tournament run.

“The way that we’re constructed, we’ve really owned our identity. We know how good our stars are, but we have everyone else who’s owning their role,” Gottlieb said. “We’re a team. … But we also know that we have two players on the court that other teams really can’t guard.”

Michigan’s peaking at the right time

The biggest part of the learning curve for young players is usually most drastic between their freshman and sophomore seasons. Not so for Michigan this season as coach Kim Barnes Arico has taken a roster, led largely by freshmen, and turned them into a team that’s looking dangerous heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Many might recall how the Wolverines came out hot against South Carolina in the season-opener with Syla Swords stealing the show as she dropped 27 points on the defending champs. While Michigan ultimately lost by six, it seemed as though the young team had put the country on notice.

Then, playing through arguably the country’s toughest conference with three starting freshmen — Swords, Olivia Olson and Mila Holloway — the Wolverines had their ups and downs. In Big Ten play, they took a back seat to USC, UCLA and Ohio State, but entering the postseason it looks like these freshmen have come out on the other side stronger and ready to break some brackets.

After a win over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, a game in which the Wolverines pushed USC well into the fourth quarter before the Big Ten regular-season champs could separate themselves, Gottlieb had high praise for Barnes Arico.

“What she has done with that team is unbelievable,” Gottlieb said. “They’re a tournament team. They’ve proven how good they are.”

In Mark Schindler’s most recent Bracket Watch, the Wolverines were projected as a No. 7 seed, but that was before they tore through the Big Ten tournament. They beat Washington in the second round, upset No. 15 Maryland in the quarterfinals (with Swords, Olson and senior Jordan Hobbs putting up 20-plus point performances) and gave USC one of the toughest games of its season.

If Michigan’s recent play is any indication, it could be one of the biggest bracket-busters — especially if it stays at a No. 7 seed. Hobbs, whose role has grown steadily with the Wolverines over the last four seasons, deserves a lot of credit for being a steadying veteran presence. But this freshman trio gives Michigan fans a reason for optimism moving forward (not just in this postseason, but in seasons to come).

The Big Ten has clearly prepared this (not so young anymore) team for the postseason, and it enters March as a squad that most opposing coaches aren’t going to want to face.

NC State victory clarifies ACC seeding

A day after North Carolina avenged a last-second regular-season loss to Florida State, NC State did the same against those very Tar Heels. The Wolfpack comfortably handled their in-state rivals in a 66-55 victory to advance to Sunday’s ACC title game for the second consecutive season. After falling behind 5-0, the Wolfpack reeled off a 21-0 run to take control. The young freshman bigs shined for NC State, shoring up one of its biggest weaknesses in the postseason; Tilda Trygger and Lorena Awou combined for 18 points and limited North Carolina center Maria Gakdeng to six shot attempts.

With the victory, the Wolfpack likely locked up a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, a spot they occupied in each of the two Top 16 seeding reveals. Barring some unexpected results in the Big Ten and SEC tournaments, NC State – which entered the game 16th in NET rating – doesn’t have the juice to rise to the top line regardless of what happens Sunday, but its presence in the conference tournament could be beneficial for its potential opponent.

Notre Dame, which plays Duke in Saturday’s second ACC semifinal, has been the final No. 1 seed in both seeding reveals, but it lost to Florida State in the final week of the regular season. Beating the Wolfpack would help the Irish stay on the top line, though UConn and South Carolina also will be in the mix.

North Carolina had been the 10th overall seed in the latest Top 16 reveal. Since then, the Tar Heels lost to Duke (on the road) and Virginia, which won’t be a tournament team. UNC could have jumped to a No. 3 seed with a continued run in the conference tournament, but it will remain a hosting team after beating Boston College and Florida State to reach the semifinals. The ACC is now poised to have four hosting sites: the three North Carolina teams and Notre Dame.

Does UConn’s cool 3-point shooting spell trouble?

If there’s one particular bellwether that could indicate how deep UConn can make a run this March (and maybe April), it’s 3-point shooting. In the Huskies’ losses (to Notre Dame, USC and Tennessee), they struggled from long range; those three games account for three of their seven worst 3-point shooting performances in the regular season. Though they shot 38 percent overall this season — the fifth-best among Division I teams — in each of those losses, they shot 26 percent or worse on 3s.

The point becomes even clearer when contrasting those games to their explosive performance over South Carolina in February, when the Huskies looked every part a national title contender by sinking 46 percent of their 3-point attempts.

UConn’s 3-point shooting has been consistently strong lately, including in its win against the Gamecocks, which seems like a good sign heading into the postseason. Of their nine games since the start of February, the Huskies have sunk at least 40 percent of their 3s in six games.

But that trend took a downward spiral on Saturday as the Huskies began their Big East tournament journey. They had their worst 3-point shooting performance of the season, going 2 of 19 (11 percent).

Even though the 3-point line wasn’t decisive in a 71-40 win over St. John’s, UConn can’t feel great about starting tournament play with that kind of performance. Its four best long-range shooters — Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd, Ashlynn Shade and Sarah Strong, who all shot at least 37 percent from beyond the arc this season — combined for just two makes in 14 attempts.

But with a win, UConn will have a chance to right the ship in the semifinals against the winner of Villanova-Marquette.

One bright mark for the Huskies? Caroline Ducharme, the former No. 5 recruit in the 2021 class who had played in just three games this season after suffering multiple neck and back injuries, scored her first points of this season in late-game play.

A bubble bursts?

Before we even got to Championship Sunday, the bubble already burst for at least one team in women’s college hoops.

Richmond went 17-1 through Atlantic 10 play and won the conference regular-season title outright, but the Spiders dropped a stunner in the semifinals to No. 4 seed St. Joseph’s. Junior Laura Ziegler hit a game-winning jumper as time expired to lift the Hawks to a 50-49 win over the expected A-10 champs.

The Spiders were considered a lock for the NCAA Tournament, so their loss has huge implications for bubble teams (and will probably leave the Spiders feeling a little anxious on Selection Sunday, too).

The Spiders had been in both Sabreena Merchant’s power rankings and in my AP Top-25 ballot over the last few weeks. The A-10 had been considered a single-bid league, but now that conference will likely steal a second bid — the first for whichever team wins the conference tournament championship, and the second for Richmond.

So, who’s biting their nails on the bubble now?

In Mark Schindler’s most recent Bubble Watch, he wrote that Virginia Tech (18-12) was his last team in, so the Hokies — in their first season under coach Megan Duffy — might not be dancing, especially after their first-round exit in the ACC tournament with a loss to Georgia Tech. Out of the Big Ten, Washington (19-13) picked up a nice first-round win over Minnesota in the Big Ten tournament but fell to a hot Michigan squad in the quarterfinals. Colorado (20-12) had been sitting on the bubble with Arizona but the Buffaloes beat the Wildcats in the first round of the Big 12 tournament before falling to regular-season champs TCU in the quarterfinals. That win should move them into slightly safer territory, but these mid-major upsets can sometimes have major domino effects for other teams, including power conference squads.