Syracuse -- the regional, not the Orange -- is stacked.
Albuquerque is so balanced, the Associated Press poll has the No. 4 seed, Louisville, eight spots above the No. 1, Washington.
Austin is set up for a Duke-Kentucky final that would revisit one of the tournament's great moments.
As expected, Chicago will serve as the backdrop for Illinois as it balances the excitement of a near-perfect regular season against the sorrow of a death in the family.
The 2005 NCAA men's basketball tournament will conclude three weeks from tonight in St. Louis. The 65-team draw was unveiled last night, just 45 minutes after the 10 men who select the 34 at-large teams, seed all and come up with pairings completed their work.
For the first time since 1993, the tournament will not include Maryland, but Duke, North Carolina and Wake Forest are among the top five seeds.
The Big East and Big 12 lead the way with six teams apiece, but can the Atlantic Coast Conference become just the second league, and the first in 20 years, to send three teams in the Final Four?
In that loaded Syracuse Regional, will Tar Heels coach Roy Williams have to face players he recruited, or the defending champion?
Did the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee favor a Corn Belt state?
The big winners in the seeding process were Washington and the state of Iowa, which produced three of the last seven at-large teams selected. Besides the Mid-American Conference, which once again didn't get any at-large berths, and the teams that weren't selected, the big losers included Boston College, Louisville and Vermont.
At the top, Duke's run to its sixth ACC title in seven years and Washington's Pac-10 championship made them the last two No. 1 seeds, joining the obvious choices, Illinois and North Carolina. Kentucky was set to be the fourth No. 1, but a convincing loss to Florida in the Southeastern Conference final opened the door for the Huskies.
Illinois, No. 1 in the polls since early December but mourning the death of coach Bruce Weber's mother, will face no more than a three-hour bus ride during the tournament, as it opens in Indianapolis on Thursday. It's followed in the Chicago Regional by Big 12 champion Oklahoma State, Pac-10 runner-up Arizona and Boston College, the co-champion in the Big East.
