Caution employers: Work productivity may be down Thursday and Friday this week and next.

The wild ride continues as college basketball conference tournaments enter their most dramatic phase. Four games in one day in major conferences, championships in the one-bid leagues.

March Madness is just getting started as the college basketball season shifts to the conference tournaments. Titles will be won, NCAA Tournament spots will be clinched or lost all over the country. Here’s what to watch in the Big East.

Now that the calendar has turned to March, fans of bubble teams may be refreshing web sites of their favorite bracketologists.

Now that the calendar has turned to March, fans of bubble teams may be refreshing web sites of their favorite bracketologists.

Now that the calendar has turned to March, fans of bubble teams may be refreshing web sites of their favorite bracketologists.

As college basketball’s regular season and conference tournament season nears a close, Athlon Sports will keep you up to date on the key developments through the week. Each day brings key developments for the NCAA Tournament, so in this space, we’ll update which teams look to be in the field, which might be playing themselves out as well as the key games of the day.

A wild college basketball season has an eventful week ahead of it.

Entering Tuesday, 11 conferences had ties atop their leagues -- either outright ties or teams tied in the wins or losses column. And these aren’t obscure conferences either: The Atlantic 10, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten and Mountain West are all crowded at the top.

Is it time to start celebrating or time to start worrying?

Those are the questions fans of a handful of teams will start asking over the next month or so of the season. Are NCAA bids or conference contender status being locked up? Or for other teams, are the wheels to a satisfying season starting to fall off?

Aside from the turmoil caused by conference realignment, the Big East has continued some familiar trends: Syracuse continues to be among the national elite with a bench player taking his turn in the spotlight, Louisville continues to be a defensive pest, and Georgetown is at its best when no one expects big things out of the Hoyas.

But the league has its share of surprises, such as Cincinnati’s ascent and a flop of a season for Florida State.

If the unofficial start of the SEC-Big East Challenge began in the Bahamas on Friday, the Big East is in good shape.

Louisville defeated SEC newcomer Missouri 84-61 in a Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal, but, of course, the game was not part of the official Challenge, which begins Thursday and continues through Saturday. Neither Louisville nor Missouri are taking part in the 12-game event.

The next two years will mark the end of an era for the Big East.

No more Jim Calhoun this season. No more Syracuse and no more Pittsburgh next season. No more Notre Dame in the years to come.