Xavier and Indiana had chances to give their NCAA Tournament resumes a significant boost. But the Musketeers lost 89-87 to Marquette, and Indiana fell 72-59 to Oregon.

The final sprint to claim NCAA Tournament bids is in full swing as the countdown to Selection Sunday grows shorter with teams around the country using conference tournaments as a final opportunity to strut their stuff.

Before that colossal matchup between these college basketball blue bloods, the Tar Heels celebrated a big career achievement by North Carolina head coach Hubert Davis, who steered his team to a 68-59 quarterfinals victory on Thursday against the No. 4 seed Wake Forest Demon Deacons at Spectrum Center in Charlotte.

Ohio State’s out, Xavier’s in, Texas is alive, Vanderbilt should be fine and North Carolina is going to need serious help if it can’t help itself with one of the upsets of the season. Those are the Wednesday men’s basketball happenings that helped shape Thursday’s bracket,

The North Carolina men’s basketball team believes it is an NCAA Tournament team. The Tar Heels (22-12) have won six of their last seven games and moved onto the right side of the bubble in most projections.