Five key storylines to watch for women's Champ Week

Now that the regular season is in the books for most teams in women's college basketball, conference tournaments will begin to take center stage.

Ahead of what is sure to be a week full of thrilling games and captivating finishes, here are five storylines for women's Champ Week:

UConn, UCLA looking to continue dominant runs

The Huskies (31-0, 20-0 Big East) enter the conference tournament after completing their 11th undefeated regular season in program history. To put UConn's historic run in context, the rest of Division I has as many undefeated regular seasons (nine) as the Huskies since 1999-00.

Led by national Player of the Year favorite Sarah Strong (18.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 4.3 APG), the Huskies have also excelled defensively by allowing the fewest points per game (50.7 PPG) in the country. With a 66-game winning streak against Big East opponents, expect UConn to be hoisting another conference title on Monday.

The Bruins (28-1, 18-0 Big Ten) have been just as dominant with their only defeat coming against then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26. In a conference that may have as many as 12 NCAA Tournament teams, according to ESPN's Charlie Creme, UCLA outlasted the gauntlet and only had two Big Ten games decided by single digits.

Senior center Lauren Betts (16.3 PPG, 8.8 RPG, 3.2 APG) has been a force all season and has had 11 double-doubles. It will not be a breeze by any stretch, but the Big Ten Tournament goes through UCLA.

SEC Tournament could be exciting

To no surprise, Dawn Staley's South Carolina Gamecocks (29-2, 15-1 SEC) are the top seed in the conference tournament and are in search of a fourth consecutive SEC Tournament title. While the defense is elite in its own right, South Carolina also possesses the third-ranked scoring offense (87.2 PPG).

Don't expect it to be a runaway for the Gamecocks, though. The No. 2 seed Vanderbilt (27-3, 13-3 SEC) is led by sophomore sensation Mikayla Blakes, while No. 3 seed Texas (28-3, 13-3 SEC) is one of only two teams (No. 5 seed Oklahoma) to defeat South Carolina this season.

TCU looking to repeat as Big 12 champions

The Horned Frogs (27-4, 15-3 Big 12) enter the Big 12 Tournament riding a six-game winning streak. A lot of their success has been due to the historic play from seniors Olivia Miles (20.1 PPG) and Marta Suarez (17.1 PPG).

TCU suffered three of its four losses in conference play, but with three of its four total losses by a combined five points, the Horned Frogs are not going to be an easy out in the Big 12 Tournament and could pose some problems in the Big Dance as well.

Can Duke carry late-season turnaround into ACC title?

After starting the season 3-6, the Blue Devils (21-8, 16-2 ACC) won 17 straight before losing two of their final three. Duke has primarily excelled defensively, owning the fifth-most blocks per game (6.2 BPG) in the nation.

The Blue Devils are coming off a loss to then-No. 21 North Carolina (25-6, 14-4 ACC) and only defeated ACC Tournament No. 2 seed Louisville (25-6, 15-3 ACC) by one earlier this season, but they are the No. 1 seed for a reason.

Mid-majors looking to spoil the party

In this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, Princeton (23-3, 11-2 Ivy League) moved up to No. 23 and Fairfield (25-4, 19-1 MAAC) entered at No. 25. Don't sleep on either team to make a run assuming they qualify for the NCAA Tournament.