By Bill Koch
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati and Kentucky are in. For them, this week's conference tournaments can only enhance - or hurt - their NCAA Tournament seeds.

TOURNAMENT TIME

• Bearcats, Wildcats pad resumes • Huggins miffed by No.3 seed • UK marches into SEC play on roll TOURNAMENT PREVIEWS & BRACKETS • C-USA: A favorite? Try any of the five champs • A-10: Road to title goes through Saint Joseph's • SEC: UK, Miss. State fight for top seed • MAC: Western Michigan should take lone bid

UK, rated No. 3 in Sunday's CollegeRPI.com listings, still hopes to secure a No. 1 seed by winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament in Atlanta.

UC, with a No. 20 RPI, could rise to a No. 5 or No. 4 seed by winning the Conference USA Tournament.

But for Xavier and Miami, their only hope for an NCAA Tournament bid rests with a strong showing in their respective conference tournaments this week.

With an RPI of 53, the Musketeers held onto a slim hope of securing an at-large bid to the NCAA by roaring back to beat Temple on Saturday, but their chances remain iffy.

The best way to ensure that they make the tournament for the fourth straight year is to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament, which will be held in Dayton.

The problem is that unbeaten St. Joseph's stands in their way, along with Dayton, playing at home, and Richmond, with a No. 43 RPI and a win over XU already on its resume.

The Musketeers might be able to land a berth if they make it to the Atlantic 10 final, but to do that, assuming that they beat St. Bonaventure in the first round, they'll have to beat St. Joseph's in the quarterfinals.

That alone might get them in regardless of what happens in the rest of the tournament.

At 17-10, the Miami RedHawks know they have no margin for error. They have to win the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland to make their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1999. But a strong showing could get them into the NIT.

The No. 3 seed RedHawks play the winner of Akron-Ball State in the quarterfinals on Thursday at Gund Arena.