East region / Charlotte

Favorite: No. 1 seed North Carolina (32-2) won the ACC regular season and tournament championships and has the combination of depth and talent to win not just the region, but the whole tournament. Forward Tyler Hansbrough is a legitimate national player of the year candidate.

Next in Line: No. 2 Tennessee won the SEC regular season and won non-conference games at Xavier and Memphis. The Vols are a little too reliant on the 3-pointer at times but are scary when they are hot. No. 3 seed Louisville, like Tennessee, relies on outside shooting, but the Cardinals will be a tough out nonetheless.

Sleeper: The Horizon League is not as strong as it has been in recent years, but No. 7 seed Butler, which won the regular season and tournament titles is an excellent team. The Bulldogs play tough defense and proved they could beat the big boys with a string of non-conference wins against teams from bigger conferences.

Top First Round Game: No. 4 Washington State vs. No. 13 Winthrop. This game is a clash of styles as Washington State is defensive minded and methodical on offense, and Winthrop will try to push the action to a faster pace. The victor likely will be the team that can impose its will on the pace of the game, and Winthrop proved last year with a first-round upset of Notre Dame that it isn't a mid-major that is just happy to be in the tournament.

Upset Special: No. 11 St. Joseph's over No. 6 Oklahoma. This season the Big 12 could have been more accurately named the "Big Two and Little Ten" as there was a big drop after Texas and Kansas. St. Joseph's made a nice run in the Atlantic 10 tournament, while Oklahoma hasn't been very consistent and the Sooners have that loss to Stephen F. Austin on their resume as well.

Noteworthy: The darling of the 2006 tournament -- George Mason, which made a run to the Final Four that year -- returns to the NCAA field after sitting out for a season. The Patriots, who are the No. 12 seed and will play No. 5 Notre Dame, won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. ... No. 9 seed Arkansas is coached by former Kentucky sharpshooter John Pelphrey. ...Top seed North Carolina has four virtual home games on its road to the Final Four as the first two rounds are in Raleigh, N.C., and the regional is in Charlotte. ... No. 15 seed American is in the field for the first time.

Midwest region / Detroit

Favorite: Top-seed Kansas is the most talented team, perhaps even in the country, but this is not going to be an easy ride for the Jayhawks. For one thing, they have underachieved some in recent tournaments, but also there are some potential bad matchups from a style standpoint looming with No. 2 seed Georgetown and No. 3 Wisconsin. Still, it is hard to pick against a team as talented as the Jayhawks, though anything short of a trip to San Antonio will be a big disappointment.

Next in Line: No. 2 seed Georgetown shot extremely well from beyond the 3-point line in their first two games during the Big East tournament and also got a big game from enigmatic 7-footer Roy Hibbert in a semifinal win against West Virginia. If those two things happen on a consistent basis, the Hoyas could be headed back to the Final Four for a second consecutive season. No. 3 seed Wisconsin has been a regular-season power but has come up short in NCAA tournaments. Still, the Badgers play a very deliberate style and will defend you for 40 minutes, so they are in every game.

Sleeper: No. 5 seed Clemson. The ACC wasn't as strong as in recent years, but the Tigers are much better than most people know. They are athletic, they pressure and they have a balanced attack (five players average double figures). They proved they can play with anyone with a win against Duke in the ACC tournament.

Top First Round Game: No. 6 USC vs. No. 11 Kansas State. Fans of the Miami Heat, the worst team in the NBA, should tune into this one to perhaps see a glimpse of their future as two potential No. 1 overall picks in USC's O.J. Mayo and the Wildcats' Michael Beasley go at it -- though we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that both are freshmen. Both players have hinted they might come back to school for another year, but you might want to watch it just in case this is the last collegiate game for one of them.

Upset Special: No. 10 Davidson over No. 7 Gonzaga. The Zags, like Wisconsin, win a lot of games during the regular season, but don't accomplish much come crunch time in the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, Davidson, which went undefeated in the Southern Conference, might be the best of the mid-major teams and features one of the best players you never heard of -- guard Stephen Curry, who averages 25 points per game.

Noteworthy: No. 8 seed UNLV is coached by former Florida and Illinois coach Lon Kruger. ... No. 12 seed Villanova was considered one of the final at-large teams in the field. ... No. 9 seed Kent State won the MAC.

South region / Houston

Favorite: No. 2 Texas (28-6). Kansas got all of the publicity out of the Big 12, but the Longhorns have quietly put together one of the best seasons by any team in the country. The Longhorns are athletic, they play excellent defense and they have an excellent tandem of guards in A.J. Abrams and D.J. Augustin. And don't forget Texas destroyed Tennessee, won at UCLA and split with Kansas, so the Longhorns have proven they can beat anyone.

Next in line: No. 1 seed Memphis (33-1) played a great non-conference schedule and won a lot of games against good teams. But the Tigers weren't tested much in Conference USA, and they are inconsistent shooting the ball both from the floor and the free throw line, so they appear ripe for an upset. No. 4 Pitt, the Big East tournament champ, is playing as well as just about anyone going into the NCAA tournament. The Panthers are again playing excellent defense, and it appears as if point guard Levance Fields is completely healthy.

Sleeper: No. 5 Michigan State. Yeah, the Big Ten was mostly a fraud this year, but the Spartans will be in every game because they are physical, they play excellent defense and they have proven they can grind it out with just about anybody. Also, head coach Tom Izzo has been a master of getting this team to the Final Four in the past, and the Spartans will be a matchup problem for most teams because of their style.

Top First Round Game: No. 8 Mississippi State vs. No. 9 Oregon. Mississippi State tied Kentucky for the second-best record in the SEC and won the West Division. Oregon finished sixth in the Pac-10. The fact that these two teams are playing in the first round as an 8-9 game says volumes about the perception of their respective conferences.

Upset Special: No. 11 Kentucky over No. 6 Marquette. The Golden Eagles have excellent guards and rely heavily on the 3-pointer, and we discovered this in the Big East Tournament -- if that shot isn't dropping for them, they are going home. Also, Tom Crean was an excellent NCAA tournament coach -- when he had Dwyane Wade on his team. Since then, he hasn't gotten his team out of the first round.

Noteworthy: Oral Roberts, which is Pitt's first-round opponent, won the Summit League. It played three NCAA tournament teams from major conferences -- Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas and lost all three games by double digits but did beat Oklahoma State. ... No. 3 seed Stanford finished second in the Pac-10 and is led by talented forward Brook Lopez.

West region / Phoenix

Favorite: Top-seed UCLA (31-3) appears to have the easiest path to the Final Four of the four No. 1 seeds. The Bruins, who have been the Final Four in each of the past two seasons, play excellent defense, are strong in the post and have two excellent guards as well as a superstar in freshman Kevin Love (17 ppg, 10.6 rpg). They also have shown the grit and mental toughness to win close games coming from behind.

Next in Line: No. 2 seed Duke shoots the ball well and has one of the game's all-time great coaches, but the Blue Devils will struggle against any team with a strong inside game. No. 3 seed Xavier has played consistently well all season and did beat Indiana before the Hoosiers fell victim to a recruiting scandal that cost Kelvin Sampson his job.

Sleeper: No. 14 seed Georgia. Yeah, we know the Bulldogs finished 4-12 in the SEC, but they showed an awful lot of heart in winning the SEC tournament, particularly when they were forced to play two games in one day and then the championship game less than 24 hours later. Combine that moxie with their talent and the fact that just about every team in this bracket has at least one glaring flaw, and it adds up to a potential run.

Top First Round Game: No. 7 West Virginia vs. No. 10 Arizona. The Mountaineers played some excellent basketball down the stretch and have gotten some big performances from forward Joe Alexander. However, the Wildcats will give them problems, particularly if they are able to dictate an up-tempo game.

Upset Special: No. 13 seed San Diego over No. 4 seed Connecticut. The Huskies are somewhat of an enigma -- as two losses to Providence would suggest -- and don't shoot it consistently enough to scare anyone with their offense. San Diego is an efficient offensive team and beat Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference championship and also won at Kentucky earlier this year.

Noteworthy: Former Pitt standout Sean Miller is the head coach at Xavier but he might not be for long as he is rumored to be on the list of potential coaches at Indiana. ... UCLA has been to two consecutive Final Fours but has not won a title since 1995. ... No. 5 seed Drake is in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 37 years. The Bulldogs won the Missouri Valley Conference. They are coached by Keno Davis, son of long-time former Iowa coach Dr. Tom Davis. ... No. 8 BYU lost to UNLV in the Mountain West tournament but the Cougars are an excellent basketball team, having won at Louisville.