ANALYSIS
West Regional has an embarrassment of riches
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
INDIANAPOLIS — First glance at the men's NCAA Tournament bracket:
The West is loaded. Absolutely loaded.
Second glance:
What's the reading on the miff-o-meter today at Gonzaga? Ohio State? Mississippi State? Oklahoma?
The marching orders for March were issued yesterday, with defending national champion Duke, Maryland, Kansas and Cincinnati as the No. 1 seeds.
Plus the customary quirks to thicken the soup until the jump shots begin.
Such as ...
• If the bracket looks a little lopsided, it's because the weight is in the West.
The top four seeds are Cincinnati, Oklahoma, Arizona and Ohio State, and all four won major conference tournaments over the weekend.
Xavier is a high-quality No. 7 seed, and so is UCLA at No. 8
Then there's the controversial matter of the No. 6 seed. Speaking of ...
• Gonzaga. The Zags are 29-3, come off three straight trips to the Sweet 16, and have won 26 of their last 27.
For all that, they received a No. 6 seed, which is like getting an ugly tie on Christmas morning ... and probably means a game against Arizona in the second round.
NCAA Tournament committee chairman Lee Fowler mentioned something about Gonzaga having 12 wins against teams ranked 200 or higher on the Ratings Percentage Index, and losing to No. 4 seed and No. 5 seed Marquette. Still, Gonzaga has cause for grief.
"They're not an easy team to seed," Fowler said.
We can tell.
• About that new NCAA system to keep teams close to home in the first week?
The good news: Thirty-nine teams were kept in their time zone, compared to 22 last year.
The bad: Ohio State won the Big Ten tournament title, but was sent to Albuquerque, N.M., which is only close to home if you're measuring by light years. Meanwhile, Illinois, which Ohio State beat Saturday, gets to play in Chicago.
• The new setup also creates some odd homecourt advantages. Mississippi State is No. 3 seed in the Midwest, and as an unjust reward may well have to play No. 6 Texas in the second round ... in Dallas.
• The majors still rule on the computer. The Big East, Big 12, Pacific 10 and SEC have six teams each in the field, meaning four leagues account for 24 of the 65 entrants. The ACC, in a rare down showing, had only four.
• Among the teams not to get in was 20-11 Syracuse, the first Big East team in history to win 20 games and go uninvited. North Carolina's 27-year streak ended with its collapse.
A look at the regions:
East
Best first-round game: No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 13 Valparaiso. An upset waiting to happen. The Wildcats looked notably vulnerable down the stretch, going 5-4 with losses to Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Tennessee. Valpo has won 14 of its last 15, lost by only four points at Arizona and at Kansas.
Second-round possibilities: Kentucky coach Tubby Smith against his old employer, Tulsa. A match between 1999 national champion Connecticut and 2000 champion Michigan State.
Etc.: No. 1 seed Maryland will have a mighty homecourt advantage the first week, playing in Washington D.C. ... Bob Knight will almost be back home again in Indiana, when he takes Texas Tech to Chicago.
Midwest
Best first-round game: No. 8 Stanford vs. No. 9 Western Kentucky. Stanford may have the Pac-10 pedigree, but Western Kentucky has won 18 in a row.
Second-round possibilities: Kansas is notorious for early exits, so there's potential for peril against either Stanford or Western Kentucky.
Etc.: Wake Forest, as No. 7 seed, was dumped last year in the first round by then-No. 10 Butler and faces the real possibility of a repeat against Pepperdine, which beat both USC and UCLA.
South
Best first-round game: No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Kent State. Kent State has won 18 in a row, and 23 of 24, and looks every bit the part of Cinderella about to make a long run.
Second-round possibilities: No. 6 California may have to cut a swath through Pennsylvania, possibly needing to beat both Penn and Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh to survive to the second week.
Etc.: Indiana has made the field 17 years in a row, but has lost seven of its last nine tournament games ... Duke has been a No. 1 seed a record five straight years.
West
Best first-round game: No. 7 Xavier vs. No. 10 Hawai'i. Xavier has won 20 of 22, Hawai'i 12 of 14, plus an early victory against Wisconsin.
Second-round possibilities: This region is full of them. Cincinnati-UCLA. Arizona-Gonzaga. Oklahoma-Xavier. The enormous depth of the West will be clear in the second round.
Etc.: Cincinnati is 30-3, but Oklahoma could make a case it should be No. 1 seed. The 27-4 Sooners have won 12 of 13 and beat both Maryland and Connecticut. ... Of Arizona's 31 games this season 21 were against teams that made the NCAA Tournament field.
