FanHouse Region Breakdown

The Louisville Cardinals weren't thought to be in line for a No. 1 seed a week ago, but the ball bounced their way -- so much so that they ended up as the top seed in the entire tournament. Their reward is what appears to be a relatively weak bracket. Michigan State is arguably the worst two-seed in the eyes of the public, for example. The bracket definitely has an up-tempo feel to it, so expect to see the points pile up, especially in the early rounds.

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Pitt has been ranked No. 4 or better in all but one week this year. Despite that, the story all season has been that Pitt has never won more than two games in the NCAA Tournament.

Duke has been hanging around the top 10 all season. The Blue Devils had a slide in the middle of conference play, but tweaking the lineup seems to have worked (except when facing North Carolina) in sparking them to yet another ACC Tournament Championship.

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You can't blame Jim Calhoun if he's whistling "Route 66" over the next couple of days because he certainly loves to travel west. Both of Calhoun's national championship teams, in 1999 and 2004, came out of the West Region. So Calhoun's probably feeling like a million bucks right now -- or $1.6 million bucks, as we all now know he makes (But he's worth it, just ask him.) -- with Connecticut grabbing the top spot out west.

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From the very start of college basketball's preseason, North Carolina has been in the national championship discussion. Heck, before the preseason, the Tar Heels had people talking about an undefeated season. Obviously, that didn't materialize, but despite a Ty Lawson injury-aided early exit from the ACC Tournament, the Tar Heels grabbed a No. 1 seed for the dance.

Oklahoma's never been far from the title talk either, and the Sooners join UNC here as the No. 2 seed. Neither has an easy road to the regional final -- talented teams like Syracuse, Gonzaga and Arizona State are all lurking, but the possibility for an epic Carolina-Oklahoma brouhaha looks strong.

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