In a move to help close the pay gap between men and women in college sports, the NCAA will now pay Division I women's basketball teams who play in March Madness games starting this year.

Some pivotal games to watch this week (all games ET): • Utah at TCU, 7:30 p.m. Friday • USC at Indiana, noon Sunday • Seton Hall at Connecticut, 1 p.m. Sunday • Ole Miss at Mississippi State, 3 p.m. Sunday • Tennessee at Vanderbilt, 3 p.m. Sunday • Oklahoma at South Carolina, 3 p.m. Sunday

Women's basketball teams will be paid for playing games in the NCAA tournament each March, just like the men have for years, under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention.

With two months of conference play left, which players stand out -- and does Broome or Flagg take the No. 1 spot?

Chris Beard is doing Chris Beard things at Ole Miss, and the Rebels are the latest SEC basketball team to cement itself as a Final Four contender. Ole Miss moved up five spots in this week's SEC Power Rankings after beating Alabama and recording the program's first road win over a top-five team.