Despite the Sun Devils and Wildcats not being in action, there will still be college basketball action in Arizona tonight.
Four teams -- two from the Big East Conference and two from the Southeastern Conference -- will be in Phoenix to decide which team will represent the aptly titled Phoenix Region in the NCAA Championships in San Antonio.
Here is a look at the four teams that will be playing tonight at America West Arena:
Connecticut: The Huskies are the unquestionable favorite in the Phoenix Region after most of the top seeds have already bowed out.
Phoenix has been favorable to the Huskies in the past. During UConn's 1999 run that ended with a win in the national championship game against Duke, the team played their Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games in Phoenix, winning both.
UConn is led by two of the top players in the country in juniors Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon.
Okafor, who was recently one of two unanimous selections for the AP All-American team, along with St. Joseph's Jameer Nelson, averaged 18.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game this season.
For his career, Okafor is currently ranked seventh all-time in the NCAA in blocks averaged per game (4.36) and is fifth overall in the Big East in blocks for his career.
Gordon was a first-team, All-Big East selection and was named the conference tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
Syracuse: Syracuse proved last year's national championship was no fluke, again making it to the Sweet Sixteen for the 16th time overall, despite the absence of last year's star, Carmelo Anthony.
Now, the team is under the reins of sophomore guard Gerry McNamara and forward Hakim Warrick.
In the Orangemen's opening-round game against Brigham Young, McNamara scored 43 points and a school record nine three-pointers in a game that saw Syracuse trailing at times.
Warrick, a third-team All-American selection earlier this week, averaged just under 20 points and 8.6 rebounds a game this season and recorded a team-best 12 double-doubles.
Vanderbilt: It's quite possible that Vanderbilt is the most underrated No. 6 team in NCAA history, but this slight is something the Commodores are looking to use in their favor.
Despite being a No. 6 seed in the first round of the tournament, Vanderbilt was an underdog against No. 11 Western Michigan and again was not favored by the bookmakers in their second-round match against North Carolina State, a contest that Vanderbilt rallied from down 11 with just under four minutes to play.
Both times, the Commodores defied the odds.
Senior forward Matt Freije, who scored a game-high 31 points, including 11 in the final 3:28 in the second-round comeback, leads Vanderbilt.
Freije was a unanimous All-SEC first-team selection by the coaches and was the conference's leading scorer, averaging 19.1 points per game during conference play.
Alabama: The Crimson Tide proved this year that it isn't necessarily how many wins you have, but it's the quality of opponents you've played.
In 2001, Alabama won 21 games in the regular season and went a respectable 8-8 in Southeastern Conference play, but were not invited to the NCAA Tournament because of a weak non-conference schedule.
This year, head coach Mark Gottfried didn't want a repeat of history and scheduled the toughest test possible for his team, including out-of-conference games against Pittsburgh, Providence and Wisconsin.
Despite a 19-12 record and a No. 8 seed, Gottfried believes his team has just as good of a shot against any team in the region.
The Crimson Tide will be riding the momentum of their three-point victory over No. 1 seed Stanford last week and are looking to continue against defending national champion Syracuse in the second game of the night.
Reach the reporter at jeffrey.hoodzow@asu.edu.
