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NCAA tries to cut back on mileage

If the Cincinnati Bearcats receive the NCAA Tournament West Region's top seed, they likely won't head to Sacramento or Albuquerque, N.M., as might be expected. Instead, their opening-weekend destination could be Pittsburgh, a designated East Region venue.

We've heard of east meeting west, but what gives?

This year the NCAA Division I men's basketball committee will attempt to reduce the early round travel of teams, especially the top four seeds in each region. Albuquerque is about 1,400 miles from Cincinnati, Pittsburgh about 280 miles.

"Philosophically, it's probably a good idea," Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. "How practical it is remains to be seen."

Here's the plan to make it viable: After the committee selects and seeds the field, it will group the teams into pods of four: seeds 1, 16, 8, 9; 4, 13, 5, 12; 2, 15, 7, 10; and 3, 14, 6, 11. With mileage charts in hand, it will place two pods in each of the eight opening-round sites regardless of regional designation. So, at an East site like Pittsburgh the winners could advance to the West and Midwest or South Region semifinals.

Confused?

Maybe an example from the NCAA will help. In last year's South Region, No. 1 Michigan State and No. 4 Oklahoma began in Memphis, and No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Florida started in New Orleans. If the new bracketing procedure had been in place, Michigan State would have been in Dayton, Ohio (a Midwest site), North Carolina in Greensboro, N.C. (an East site), Florida in New Orleans (a South site) and Oklahoma in Boise, Idaho (a West site).

"We did this to keep more people closer to home, but you've got to remember that two-thirds of our membership in Division I basketball is east of the Mississippi, so there still will be travel in the tournament," committee chairman Lee Fowler said, adding that a team could see its seeding changed slightly to accommodate geography. "But we hope to eliminate as much as we can."

The selection committee had discussed this for a few years, but the matter reached critical mass last summer after what happened in Boise. The eight teams that played there were Iowa State, Maryland, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Georgetown, Georgia State, George Mason and Hampton.

No one needed an atlas to figure out no team was particularly close to home. The Terrapins had about a 2,400-mile trek.

"That may have been the straw that kind of made us move to look at it (more intensely)," Fowler said. "We think it's something that's really going to be good for the tournament."

NOT JUST A NUMBER ... NOW: For the second time this season, Kansas supplanted Duke atop the Associated Press poll. Unlike five weeks ago, Jayhawks coach Roy Williams recognizes the upward mobility provides more than fodder for idle water-cooler chats.

"Being No. 1 later is much better than earlier, to say the least, because it means you're having a heck of a year, and I think it should mean a little more because you have already accomplished something," he said. WHERE NO. 1s GO TO LOSE: With its win against Duke, ranked No. 1 at the time, on Sunday at Cole Field House, Maryland has beaten six No. 1s at home. Notre Dame's Joyce Athletic Center has seven such wins.

TIP-INS: Alabama, Florida and Mississippi State have hit the 20-win mark, and Georgia (19), Mississippi (19) and Kentucky (18) also could reach it by the end of the regular season. This could be the fifth straight season that the SEC has had at least five 20-win teams. ... The Big 12 is the latest league to discipline players or coaches for unsportsmanlike conduct. Four players -- Colorado's D.J. Harrison and David Harrison and Iowa State's Jared Homan and Ricky Morgan -- were publicly reprimanded for their parts in an altercation in a game Feb. 13. Said league commissioner Kevin Weiberg, "There is no place in Big 12 basketball for these kind of actions by student-athletes. We expect athletes and coaches to display courtesy and respect toward one another." ... Tulsa has won 80 games the past three seasons, second only to Duke's 88. HE SAID IT: "I don't think anybody could have predicted it would come down to the last couple weeks where six teams could win the league." -- Arizona coach Lute Olson on the wide-open Pac-10 race.

-- Brian Landman covers men's college basketball. He can be reached at landman@sptimes.com or at (813) 226-3347.

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