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It's time for the madness to begin Favorites or not, plenty of NCAA Tournament-bound teams stand a chance at winning the championship By Blair Kerkhoff Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT) Every year, by the eve of the NCAA Tournament, a power team or two has emerged to give your bracket some clarity. Last season, it was a pair of Wildcats — Kentucky and Arizona. Often it is Duke, running out of space for all of its Atlantic Coast Conference championship tro phies. In recent years, Michigan State, Connecticut and Kansas have been choices. These teams don't necessarily win the championship — neither Wild cats team even reached the 2003 Final Four. But what happens when the tournament begins is not the issue On some of the most uncertain days in sports, these next few with the guts of your bracket begging for some answers, we need the strength of a favorite. You'll struggle over those No. 8 vs. No. 9 games and find some upset specials among the 11th and 12 th seeds. But what every bracket author de mands at this moment a sure-bet, can't miss, odds-on choice to, at least in our minds, ride confidently through the bracket, to the Alamod ome and the Final Four. You need a national-champion pick. Only this time they're in hiding. "I think it's pretty wide open," said Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton, whose Cowboys are a No. 2 seed in the East Rutherford, N.J., re gional and will open play Friday in Kansas City. Oh, you have your favorites. But, and this is what separates this year from others, the favorites offer plen ty of reasons not to pick them as a national champion. Start with the four No. 1 seeds, Kentucky, Duke, Stanford and St. Joseph's. Wonderful regular seasons all. But... The Wildcats took their usual stroll through the Southeastern Conference tournament, blowing out Florida 89-73 for its 25th crown. A Kentucky appearance in the league final was inevitable; the Wildcats are 33-1 in the SEC semifi nals . Their only loss came in 1936. But this isn't a typical imposing Kentucky team. The Wildcats can play smothering defense but aren't overly talented on offense. Kentucky wins with great ball movement and interior passing. It has experience, but the group hasn't gotten past the Elite Eight in their careers. Those reg ular-season losses to Georgia were troubling. So troubling that coach Tubby Smith returned to a trick from 1998. After the second loss to the Turn to MADNESS, page 11B run BAR LIVE MU5IC POOL VIDEO POKER DAILY 5PECIAL5 Lunch Tuesday-Friday 11:30-2:00 pm Dinner Tuesday-5aturday beginning at 4 pm Live Music TTbLis Week! 5t. Paddy's Day Wednesday, March 17 • $5 Irish Celtic Celebration Irish hip-hop and Dance (ballroom) Thursday, March 18 • free Christie & McCallum Honky Tonk/Rock Friday, March 19 • $3 Trio Grande Latin Funk Saturday, March 20 • $3 Paul Biandi with the Peter Giri Prospect blues rock | (541 ) 344-8600 • 163.6 WiUamette. St. ACC teams head to Big Dance Six of the nine ACC teams receive tournament invites, including a No. 1 ranking for Duke in the Mideast By David Teel Daily Press (KRT) The NCAA tournament selection committee rewarded college basket ball's top conference and some diffi cult schedules, while punishing con ferences that played late championship games. The 65-team bracket unveiled Sun day night includes six teams from the ACC and three from Virginia, includ ing the University of Richmond. The Spiders (20-12) earned one of the fi nal at-large bids based on the strength of their non-conference schedule, ranked sixth nationally by the Rating Percentage Index. "I'm not really up on the selection process," Richmond coach Jerry Wainwright, 57, said of the computer ized data the committee relies upon. "I'm lucky if I can even answer an e mail. Bracketology? Shoot, at my age I'm more worried about proctology." Richmond's Atlantic 10 rival Saint Joseph's joins heavyweights Kentucky, Duke and Stanford as No. 1 regional seeds. Like the Spiders, the Hawks (27-1) were rewarded for their non conference schedule. "They didn't just play a good sched ule, they played the best (nonconfer ence) schedule based on our RPI sys tem," said committee chairman Bob Bowlsby. Bowlsby conceded that Oklahoma State, the Big 12's regular season and tournament champion, might have merited a No. 1 seed. But he said the conference's decision to start its tourna ment final at 3 p.m., EST Sunday left the committee too little time to adjust. A similar fate befell Wisconsin. The Badgers won the Big Ten tournament Sunday, but the game didn't start until 3:30, and the committee made them a relatively low No. 6 seed. Bowlsby, the athletic director at Big Ten member Iowa, said that is the price conferences pay for agreeing to late starting times in exchange for tel evision rights fees. Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan State are the only Big Ten teams in the field, the conference's fewest since 1984. As expected, six teams each from the ACC, Big East, South eastern and Conference USA will at tempt to make the Final Four, April 3-5 in San Antonio. So regarded was the ACC that Duke remained a No. 1 seed despite losing to Maryland in Sunday's conference tournament, while the Terps, an NCAA uncertainty until last week, rose to a No. 4 seed. This marks the sixth time in seven years that Duke is a No. 1, the third time in five for Stanford. The Cardinal, which advanced to the 1998 Final Four in San Antonio, failed to make the Fi nal Four in its previous years as a No. 1. For the first time, the committee designated regions not by directions (East, West, Midwest, South), but by the cities that will host the regional semifinals and finals. Hence, the St. Louis, Phoenix, East Rutherford and Atlanta regions. Also, the committee seeded the four No. Is, making Kentucky the tournament's top overall seed and bracketing the Wildcats to face the fourth No. 1, Saint Joe's, at the Final Four. Duke and Stanford, the second and third-ranked No. Is, are in the opposite side of the draw. Several teams will play close to home: Duke and Wake Forest in Raleigh, N.C., Kansas in Kansas City, Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Gonzaga in Seattle, Cincinnati in Columbus, Air Force in Denver. Among the state teams, Virginia Commonwealth plays in Raleigh, Richmond in Milwaukee, Liberty in Buffalo. Based on seeds, Air Force, Rich mond, Texas-El Paso and Brigham Young were the last of the 34 at-large selections. Air Force last made the field in 1962, under Bob Spear. Big Sky champion Eastern Wash ington is the field's only first-timer. Arizona is in for the 20th consecutive year, seven shy of the record set by North Carolina from 1975-2001. Among the notable exclusions was 25-3 Utah State, regular-season co-champion of the Big West. But the Aggies lost in the league tourna ment and, according to Bowlsby, didn't play a challenging enough non-conference schedule. Richmond did, but when the Spiders gathered at Wainwright's house Sunday evening he didn't know what to expect And when their name came up? "It reminded me of Christmas Day when my sons opened a package they really wanted," Wainwright said. "There is a Santa Claus." (c) 2004, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. Women’s team upsets could abound The women’s NCAA Tournament could prove to be a harrowing experience By Brian Davis The Dallas Morning News (KRT) No Division I women's team was able to remain atop the Associated Press Top 25 poll this season for more than three weeks. With parity on the rise, No. 1 seeds in this year's NCAA Women's Tournament can ill afford to pencil themselves into the Sweet 16 just yet. Each region contains scintillating second-round matchup possibilities, which makes upsets more likely than ever. Here's a look at each region: West Region No. 1 seed Texas did not lose its place among the top four national seeds after a stunning loss to Okla homa in the Big 12 women's tourna ment championship. UT opens against No. 16 seed Southern, the automatic qualifier from the South western Athletic Conference, and could meet Michigan State or Ari zona in the second round. TCU drew a No. 6 seed and, barring a first-round upset against Temple, should face No. 3 seed Georgia in the second round. Geor gia, though, doesn't seem so tough after the Lady Bulldogs gave up an 18-point lead in the SEC tourna ment championship game and lost to Vanderbilt. Midwest Region Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale and the NCAA selection committee were thinking alike. Coale felt her Sooners would be a No. 3 seed after winning the Big 12 tournament, and they are. OU, though, has a poten tially big hurdle looming in the sec ond round against Missouri, a team that knocked off the Sooners, 77-65, during the regular season. Missouri, a No. 11 seed, first meets sixth-seeded Stanford, the team that won the Pac-10 title but may have dropped because of its mediocre strength of schedule. Fourth-seeded Baylor has enough athleticism to overmatch No. 13 seed Loyola Marymount. But if 12th-seed ed New Mexico can get past fifth-seed ed Florida on the Lobos' home floor, a second-round game against Baylor would be interesting. Mideast Region Texas Tech was awarded the No. 4 seed for its RPI (No. 12) and strength of schedule (No. 38) de spite having lost in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament. But a first-round trip to Missoula, Mont., is a far cry from Lubbock, Texas, the place where Tech has host ed first- and second-round games the last six years. A second-round matchup against No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech is not the type of game Texas Tech is used to seeing on its usual route to the Sweet 16. East Region No. 3 seed Houston stormed through the Conference USA season and finished 27-3. The Cougars drew one of the toughest sites in Di vision I at UC Santa Barbara. The at mosphere at die Thunderdome is a huge advantage for the Big West champion Gauchos, who drew No. 6 seed Colorado in the first round. (c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services. . FREE DELIVERY Present coupon. Not valid with other offers. Good through 3-19-04. 1 OflO EDAIIIfl ama wm ■ ig«% V mm mm mm mm mam mi mm ^m f ■ oU5f rKAN KLIN tSLlf U 284-8484 or 484-2799 018532 RELAX - REJUVENATE - UNWIND ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL Crimson Salon invites you to help us celebrate our first birthday * - d present for you _ Mention this ad and get 10% off any service 35? West 6th Avenue • Eugene, Oregon 97401 541-W-S800
