NO. 1 STANFORD VS. NO. 16 TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO: The Cardinal has made 10 consecutive NCAA Tournaments and not lost in the first round during that span. The return of 6-foot-9 power forward Justin Davis during the Pac-10 tournament helped Stanford double as regular-season and tournament champion and bolsters the frontcourt. He had 13 points against Washington in the title game, avenging the Cardinal's lone loss in the regular-season finale. UTSA won the Southland Conference and had a nice turnaround after going 7-13 in league play in 2002-03 and missing the league tournament. The balanced Stanford offense has five players averaging 9.9 or more points, led by Josh Childress at 15.3. Point guard Chris Hernandez is shooting 46.7 percent on 3-pointers.
NO. 8 ALABAMA VS. NO. 9 SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: The Crimson Tide's 12 losses came against the nation's toughest schedule, according to the RPI. A classic matchup between a major conference school that played a tough schedule and a mid-major school that played a mediocre schedule. Southern Illinois reached the Sweet 16 two years ago with wins over Texas Tech and Georgia and lost in the first round last season. Alabama won four of five entering the SEC tournament, where it lost in the quarterfinals in overtime on a buzzer-beater by Florida. Southern Illinois, under first-year coach Matt Painter, won 16 in a row before dropping the final game of the regular season to Northern Iowa and losing in the Missouri Valley tournament to Southwest Missouri State. Guard Darren Brooks is averaging 16.2 points. 'Bama's Kennedy Winston and Earnest Shelton have combined to make 108 3-pointers and average 32.7 points.
THURSDAY, DENVER
NO. 4 MARYLAND VS. NO. 13 TEXAS-EL PASO: A couple of weeks ago, Maryland seemed a few losses away from missing the NCAAs for the first time in a decade. Instead, the Terrapins beat Wake Forest, N.C. State and Duke to win the ACC tournament. They beat the Demon Deacons by a point and overcame double-digit second-half deficits in the semifinal and final. Sophomore point guard John Gilchrist has emerged as a star. The Terrapins trailed Duke by 12 with less than four minutes left before winning in overtime. The Miners squeaked in as the lowest-seeded at-large team after tying for the WAC regular-season title.
NO. 5 SYRACUSE VS. NO. 12 BYU: The Orangemen open the defense of their national title against the second-lowest seeded at-large team. Syracuse will need solid interior defense to control BYU's 6-11, 280-pound Rafael Araujo. He averages 18.2 points and 10 rebounds and shoots 57.2 percent from the floor. The Orangemen seem to have recovered from the midseason loss of point guard Billy Edelin. They closed the regular season with five straight wins before losing 57-54 to Boston College in the Big East tournament quarterfinals. Gerry McNamara has made 90 3-pointers, and Hakim Warrick averages 19.6 points.
THURSDAY, BUFFALO, N.Y.
NO. 2 CONNECTICUT VS. NO. 15 VERMONT: Emeka Okafor's back is the most important body part of the tournament. If the Huskies' star center is healthy, the consensus is UConn has the best team. If he is less than 100 percent (he didn't play in the Big East tournament until the final), then it is one of the most wide-open fields in memory. Vermont superstar Taylor Coppenrath broke his left wrist in mid February and returned for the America East title win over Maine, netting 43 points. Expect the Huskies to play better defense on him.
NO. 7 DePAUL VS. NO. 10 DAYTON: The Blue Demons finished in a five-way tie for first in Conference USA and earned the No. 1 seed in the league tournament via tiebreaker. DePaul reached the title game, losing 55-50 to host Cincinnati. Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao was a longtime UConn assistant, creating a juicy plot line in the second round if both win. Dayton lost to Xavier 58-49 in the Atlantic 10 final. DePaul's Andre Brown is a fierce rebounder and interior defender and was named second-team All-C-USA despite missing nearly half of the season. And freshman point guard Sammy Mejia is emerging as a leader. Dayton's senior bruiser Keith Waleskowski (6-8, 231) averages 13.2 points and 9.7 rebounds.
FRIDAY, ORLANDO
NO. 3 N.C. STATE VS. NO. 14 LA.-LAFAYETTE: The Wolfpack finished second in the ACC in the regular season to Duke. The Ragin' Cajuns, the Sun Belt champions, are an athletic team that received a boost from the addition of Florida transfer Orien Greene. Early in the season, they lost road games at NCAA teams Georgia Tech, Dayton, Xavier and Arizona. N.C. State needs to rally psychologically after blowing a 19-point halftime lead to Maryland in an ACC semifinal. Junior guard/forward Julius Hodge has developed into one of the nation's top players. A nod to State if it has a late lead: It is the nation's top free-throw shooting team.
NO. 6 VANDERBILT VS. NO. 11 WESTERN MICHIGAN: The Commodores made the NCAAs for the first time since 1997. They knocked off Mississippi State in the SEC quarterfinals before getting routed by Florida in the semis. Western Michigan defeated Kent State in the Mid-American Conference title game to earn the league's lone bid. Broncos star Mike Williams averaged 18.4 points in the regular season to earn league player of the year. Western Michigan was 20-7 last season and made the NIT before having the breakthrough this season under first-year coach Steve Hawkins.
