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 Thursday, February 17
Bracketologists wondering
who's the fourth No. 1 seed?

 
By Joe Lunardi
Special to ESPN.com

 Here at Blue Ribbon headquarters, we were up half the night Sunday attempting to answer the above question. More to the point, with previously unbeaten Syracuse suffering a pair of losses last week, would another team assume the final No. 1 seed position in this week's projected NCAA brackets.

Tennessee is a candidate, especially with the likely No. 1 seed vacancy occurring in the South -- any team leading the nation's top-ranked conference deserves careful consideration. Arizona is another candidate, despite four losses, as it has a terrific overall tournament profile (including a victory at co-Pac 10 leader Stanford).

Syracuse also remained a candidate to retain its position. Ultimately, though, the Orangemen's schedule strength and past week's performance could not be ignored. So the Orange are shipped West this week; Arizona and Tennessee are bracketed 1-2 in the South.

West Region
March 16, 2000/Tucson, Ariz.
(1) Stanford vs. (16) MID-CONTINENT/Southern Utah
(8) Kansas vs. (9) Pepperdine
(5) Purdue vs. (12) BIG WEST/Utah State
(4) Kentucky vs. (13) MAAC/Siena

March 16, 2000/Salt Lake City, Utah
(3) Tulsa vs. (14) SOUTHERN/Appalachian State
(6) Illinois vs. (11) UNC Charlotte
(7) Vanderbilt vs. (10) UNLV
(2) Syracuse vs. (15) BIG SKY/Eastern Washington

Midwest Region
March 16, 2000/Cleveland
(1) Cincinnati vs. (16) SWAC/Southern
(8) North Carolina vs. (9) Kent
(5) Connecticut vs. (12) UCLA
(4) Auburn vs. (13) A-EAST/Hofstra

March 16, 2000/Minneapolis
(3) Oklahoma State vs. (14) MCC/Butler
(6) LSU vs. (11) Indiana State
(7) Oregon vs. (10) Miami
(2) Michigan State vs. (15) SLC/Sam Houston State

East Region
March 17, 2000/Winston-Salem, N.C.
(1) Duke vs. (16) MEAC/Norfolk State
(8) Utah vs. (9) Gonzaga
(5) Temple vs. (12) Notre Dame
(4) Texas vs. (13) IVY/Pennsylvania

March 17, 2000/Buffalo, N.Y.
(3) Florida vs. (14) NEC/Central Connecticut State
(6) Seton Hall vs. (11) Fresno State
(7) Missouri vs. (10) Louisville
(2) Indiana vs. (15) PATRIOT/Navy

South Region
March 17, 2000/Birmingham, Ala.
(1) Arizona vs. (16) TAAC/Troy State
(8) Dayton vs. (9) DePaul
(5) Maryland vs. (12) SUN BELT/Louisiana-Lafayette
(4) Oklahoma vs. (13) OVC/Murray State

March 17, 2000/Nashville, Tenn.
(3) Ohio State vs. (14) CAA/James Madison
(6) Iowa State vs. (11) Virginia
(7) St. John's vs. (10) Saint Louis
(2) Tennessee vs. (15) BIG SOUTH/Radford

Blue Ribbon bits

  • Teams preceded by their conference name in ALL CAPS are the current league (or RPI) leaders. Teams from multiple-bid conferences, or who would earn an at-large bid regardless of their league position, are listed without such a prefix.

  • The Mountain West and WAC are without automatic bids this season. Thus, there are only 29 conferences (instead of the maximum 30) which will place an automatic qualifier into the NCAA field this year.

  • Please note that Syracuse (East) and Texas (South) cannot be placed in their respective regions, as each host a regional final this year.

  • Who's really hot? The following projected tourney teams are 10-0 in their last 10 games: Cincinnati, Utah State.

  • Looking for impressive wins? The best records vs. RPI Top 25 competition include: Cincinnati (3-0), Indiana (3-0), Stanford (4-1), Oklahoma State (3-1), Purdue (3-1), Arizona (4-2), Tennessee (4-2), Michigan State (5-3).

  • The only teams remaining perfect in road games (non-neutral included) are Cincinnati (8-0) and Stanford (7-0). And the following poor road records may surprise you: UAB (1-7), Louisville (1-6), North Carolina State (1-6), Auburn (1-4), Wisconsin (2-8), Marquette (2-7), Penn State (2-7), Notre Dame (2-6), Maryland (2-5), Michigan (2-5), Saint Louis (2-5), Southwest Missouri State (3-6), Villanova (3-6), Xavier (3-6), DePaul (3-5), New Mexico State (4-6), Virginia (4-6), LSU (2-3), UCLA (3-4), Texas (4-5), St. Bonaventure (4-5).

  • Among the so-called "mid-major" conferences, the following leagues project to earn an at-large bid regardless of their conference tournament outcome: MAC (Kent), WCC (Pepperdine or Gonzaga), MVC (Indiana State).

  • There is much conversation each week on the order of, "This or that team should be seeded higher than so-and-so." We suspect much of that conversation this week will focus on projected No. 6 seed Iowa State, which is tied atop the Big 12 with Oklahoma State (a projected No. 3 seed). What will not be lost on the Selection Committee, though, is that the Cyclones have played three Non-Division I opponents.

  • Who needs Tobacco Road? Three teams in the state of Oklahoma (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa) are a combined 60-8 in Division I games.

  • Did you notice? Current Northeast Conference leader Central Connecticut State has not played a single team ranked above 150 on the RPI.

  • Moving up (alphabetical order): Appalachian State, Butler, DePaul, Indiana State, LSU, Louisville, Murray State, Navy, Norfolk State, Oklahoma State, Sam Houston State, Seton Hall, Southern Utah, Southwest Missouri State, UNLV, Utah State.

  • Notre Dame is listed one slot lower than its true seed this week in order to comply with all bracketing criteria (the Selection Committee allows teams to be moved in such instances no more than one line from their true seed). The beneficiary is Fresno State, which moved up one seed.

  • Going down (alphabetical order): Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina State, Ohio University, St. Bonaventure, Southern California, UAB, Vanderbilt.

  • Multiple-conference breakdown: Big East (6), Big 12 (6), SEC (6), Big Ten (5), C-USA (5), ACC (4), Pac-10 (4), Atlantic 10 (2), MWC (2), WAC (2), WCC (2).

  • Last four in: Virginia, Notre Dame, Fresno State, UCLA.

  • Last four out: Marquette, Southern California, SMU, California.

    Joe Lunardi can be contacted at "jlunardi@sju.edu". He will also appear Monday nights (10:20 p.m. ET) and Saturday afternoons (2:20 p.m. ET) on ESPN Radio and chat every Friday at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.com.

    To order the adidas Blue Ribbon Tournament Preview, call 1-800-828-HOOP (4667). This 80-page volume is prepared on Selection Sunday and rushed to you in time for first-round games. BLUE RIBBON postseason reports -- including new online editions -- are also available at www.collegebaskets.com.

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