Drawing Power for the Huskies

Marcus Williams and the Connecticut basketball team should sail into the Final Four, with a round of eight matchup likely to come against North Carolina. (By Bob Child -- Associated Press)

Let's cut to the chase here: Connecticut is the best team in the country, and it may have gotten the best draw of the four No. 1 seeds. Tennessee as a No. 2 seed? Bruce Pearl has done a great job in his first year in Knoxville but does anyone think the Vols are a No. 2 seed? Pick a chalk round of 16 game right now between North Carolina and Tennessee, and find three people outside Tennessee who think the Volunteers win that game.

The real threat for Connecticut may be No. 4 Illinois, but the Illini appear good enough to hold their seed and get to the round of 16, but not quite good enough to beat this year's elite teams -- as in Connecticut. In fact, the Huskies' most dangerous game could come in the second round against a flawed, but still dangerous Kentucky team. (That's if Kentucky gets by UAB, a team it lost to two years ago when the Wildcats were a No. 1 seed.)

This is the bracket that the TV talking heads will be screaming about all week because of two teams: No. 11 George Mason and No. 13 Air Force. Here's the deal: GMU deserved a bid; Air Force did not. Having said that, Hofstra clearly should have been in the field -- over either Air Force or Utah State -- and a lot of Hofstra people are going to point angrily at the fact that GMU Athletic Director Tom O'Connor is on the selection committee. The fact that O'Connor was out of the room when his team was discussed is irrelevant: Hofstra beat the Patriots twice in the last 10 days of the season and should have been ahead of them in the at-large pecking order. But GMU still should have been there ahead of Air Force and Utah State.

The only explanation for the Falcons' presence in the field is patriotism. They're a good story: tough kids with a former NBA coach (Jeff Bzdelik) who has been through personal trials. But the fact is they played a horrific nonconference schedule, were in a mediocre conference and lost their first game in the conference tournament. They belong in the NIT.

The best first-round matchup here is Wichita State-Seton Hall. Louis Orr saved his job at Seton Hall by getting to the tournament. Wichita State, it should be noted, lost at home to George Mason. The matchup is interesting because the power conferences are all screaming about the Missouri Valley's four bids. This is a put-up-or-quiet-down game for both sides of this argument.

George Mason can beat Michigan State, although the absence of the suspended Tony Skinn makes it less likely. The Spartans always seem to play their best ball in March -- they were a No. 5 seed last year before making the Final Four -- but might look past the Patriots to a second-round game against North Carolina, the team it lost to in St. Louis a year ago.

In the top half of the draw, Connecticut should make it here to the Pick-a-Phone-Company Center although wouldn't it be wonderful if a team called the Great Danes (Albany) could make life difficult for a team called the Huskies (ruff!). Washington-Illinois is an intriguing second-round matchup. Brandon Roy is easily the best player in the country who almost no one knows anything about, but the Illini's tournament experience from last year should get them through to a game against Connecticut.

In the bottom half, here's the potential first-round shocker: Winthrop over Tennessee. Yes, a long shot, but Winthrop has loads of tournament experience; Tennessee none. What's more, if Michigan State doesn't trip against Mason, it could beat North Carolina. Or, the Tar Heels could land in the region final against Connecticut. Eight years ago, Connecticut had to play North Carolina in the region final -- in Greensboro. Coach Jim Calhoun still talks about playing a "road" game in a region final. This one would be more of a neutral court. U-Conn. should win. And a year from now, when Carolina is back in the Final Four, Roy Williams will talk about how much his team learned playing Connecticut this year.