March 13, 2007

CAR-O-LINES
By Rick Brewer

There is one certainty as the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament opens this weekend.

Coaches across the country are explaining why their regional should be regarded as the toughest in the event.

That's especially true for coaches of the top 16 to 20 teams. They can't understand why their teams have been placed in such difficult brackets.

A lot of this is simple posturing, a continuation of how each coach views every opponent during the season. But with so much parity in college basketball it's easy for coaches of the top teams to show how their regional will be the hardest to win.

However, Roy Williams can be forgiven for any comments he makes about the East Regional. Almost everyone else in the country is saying it provides the most stumbling blocks for a top-seeded team than any in the Tournament.

It seems nearly half the nation's prognosticators aren't picking top-seeded North Carolina to make it out of the Regional. Not only do the other top three seeds have Final Four quality, but this 16-team field has more depth than any of the other Regionals. Every team in the regional won at least 20 games and half were conference champions.

No top-seeded team in NCAA history has ever lost to a number 16 seed. Eastern Kentucky is the Ohio Valley champion and has outstanding guards. But, Carolina's inside power should be too much for the Colonels. However, after that anything can happen.

The second-round opponent would be either eighth-seeded Marquette or number nine Michigan State. The Golden Eagles are led by guard Dominic James, a first-team All-Big East performer. The Spartans have size up front and Drew Neitzel, one of the nation's best players. The 6-0 Neitzel averaged 18.3 points and has shown the ability to dominate a close game down the stretch.

The bracket features plenty of other great players. Oral Roberts has two of the best in 6-8 Caleb Green and 6-1 Ken Tutt. Green, the three-time Mid-Continent Player of the Year, is averaging 20.8 points and 9.3 rebounds a game. Tutt's scoring average is 16.1. Derrick Byars, a 6-7 All-SEC forward from Vanderbilt, has a 16.9 average and teammate Dan Cage leads the conference in three-point percentage.

Three other big scorers are Jared Dudley of Boston College (19.3), Jarrius Jackson of Texas Tech (20.2) and Southern Cal's Nick Young (17.5). All play on teams capable of advancing to the third round.

And the other top three seeds in the East have yet to be mentioned.

Following Carolina's ACC Tournament win last Sunday, writers gathered in the press room to watch the final minutes of the Big Eight championship game. Even though Texas lost to Kansas in that game, the general feeling was the Longhorns would be a third seed in the NCAA Tournament.

However, Texas is number four in the East and would be Carolina's opponent should both advance to the final 16. Kevin Durant, the likely national player of the year, is averaging 25.1 points and 11.4 rebounds per game. But, he isn't the entire show as guards A.J. Abrams and D.J. Augustin are also in double figures. Texas likes a fast-paced game just like Carolina.

Georgetown and Washington State, the second and third-seeded teams, are a direct contrast to the Tar Heels and the Longhorns. These two teams like a slower tempo. Cougar guards Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver earned All-Pac 10 honors despite averaging just 13.6 and 11.5 points. They are two of the main reasons WSU led the Pac 10 in scoring defense.

This may be the best Hoya team since the 1980's when Patrick Ewing was at Georgetown. Jeff Green, a 6-9 forward, was the Big East Player of the Year. He and 7-2 center Roy Hibbard dominate the inside. There's more power up front in 6-8 DaJuan Summers, 6-8 Patrick Ewing, Jr. and 6-9 Vernon Macklin.

The Hoyas are holding opponents to just 56.5 points a game, fifth-best figure in the nation. Georgetown, in fact, is the team whom many feel will win this regional. The Hoyas are on a roll after winning the Big East title last week.

Then there is top-seeded Carolina. The question is how much that number one seed will mean in a regional as loaded as this one.