North
Carolina, Memphis, Kansas and UCLA earned the top seeds in the NCAA tournament
Sunday, and the top-ranked Tar Heels got the best deal of all: Their road to
the Final Four won’t veer more than two hours outside their Chapel Hill campus.

The
Tar Heels (32-2) are the top seed in the East, with their first- and
second-round games scheduled for Raleigh and the next two rounds in Charlotte.

“It’s
an advantage if you play well,” said Carolina coach Roy Williams, trying
to lead the Tar Heels to their second title in four years. “Just because
the crowd’s cheering for you, I’ve never had a crowd win a game. I know it
sounds wacko.”

Like
North Carolina, Kansas, UCLA and Memphis won their conference tournaments to
seal their top spots ? Memphis in the South, Kansas in the Midwest and UCLA in
the West.

The
Final Four is set for April 5-7 in San Antonio.

Absent
from the tournament are last year’s two finalists, Ohio State and two-time
defending champion Florida. The Buckeyes were a bubble team that didn’t make
it, and the rebuilt Gators saw their chances die with a first-round loss in the
Southeastern Conference tournament. They’re the first defending champs to miss
the tournament since Kansas in 1989, when the Jayhawks were on probation.

March
Madness officially begins Tuesday with an opening-round game between Coppin
State and Mount St. Mary’s, then with first-round games Thursday and Friday.
The real festivities, however, have already started, with the brackets out, the
pencils sharpened and office pools getting in full swing.

In
the East region, North Carolina will open against the winner of the Coppin
State-Mount St. Mary’s game, while No. 2 seed Tennessee will open against No.
15 American.

Other
games in the region are: No. 7 Butler vs. No. 10 South Alabama; No. 3
Louisville vs. No. 14 Boise State; No. 6 Oklahoma vs. No. 11 St. Joseph’s; No.
8 Indiana vs. No. 9 Arkansas; No. 4 Washington State vs. No. 13 Winthrop; and
No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No. 12 George Mason, which will try to repeat its
surprising trip to the Final Four two years ago.

By
defeating Texas in the Big 12 title game, Kansas earned its top seed in the
Midwest, a short trip to Omaha, Neb., and a first-round game against Big Sky
champion Portland State.

The
marquee matchup in that region, however, will be between No. 6 Southern
California and No. 11 Kansas State ? a meeting of top freshmen O.J. Mayo and
Michael Beasley.

Other
Midwest games pit No. 8 UNLV against No. 9 Kent State; No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12
Villanova, a bubble team; No. 4 Vanderbilt against No. 13 Siena; No. 2
Georgetown vs. 15 Maryland-Baltimore County; No. 7 Gonzaga vs. No. 10 Davidson;
and No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Cal State-Fullerton.

In
the South region, Memphis opens against No. 16 Texas-Arlington, No. 8
Mississippi State plays No. 9 Oregon, No. 5 Michigan State plays No. 12 Temple
and No. 4 Pittsburgh plays No. 13 Oral Roberts. The other side of the bracket
includes No. 2 Texas vs. No. 15 Austin Peay, No. 7 Miami vs. No. 10 St. Mary’s,
No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 14 Cornell and No. 6 Marquette against No. 11 Kentucky,
with coach Billy Gillespie leading the Wildcats into the tournament in his
first year at the school.

In
the West, UCLA plays No. 16 Mississippi Valley State, No. 8 BYU plays No. 9
Texas A&M, No. 5 Drake plays No. 12 Western Kentucky and No. 4 Connecticut
plays No. 13 San Diego. Other games are No. 2 Duke vs. No. 15 Belmont, No. 7
West Virginia vs. No. 10 Arizona ? off the bubble and making its 24th straight
NCAA appearance ? No. 6 Purdue vs. No. 11 Baylor and No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 14
Georgia, which won the SEC tournament Sunday afternoon to make a surprise trip
to the NCAAs with a 17-16 record.

Georgia’s
run eliminated one bubble spot for a field of about 10 teams with legitimate
claims. Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Mississippi and Ohio State were the
big-conference teams that got left out.

“In
all honesty, they were very good teams and we think they’re very good teams,
but they’re just not one of the 34 best at-large teams in the country,”
said Tom O’Connor, NCAA selection committee chairman.

Among
mid-majors, Dayton, Massachusetts and Illinois State were the most significant
snubs. Illinois State clearly wasn’t helped by a 30-point loss to Drake in the
Missouri Valley Conference tournament finals.

With
eight teams, the Big East placed the most schools in the tournament. The
Pac-10, Big 12 and SEC followed with six each, while the Atlantic Coast and Big
Ten Conferences had four apiece. The ACC was the highest-rated conference.

“The
RPI is a control point,” O’Connor explained. “It’s a data point and
it’s a starting point, but it’s not an end-all. We don’t look at conferences at
all.”

For the
second straight year, only six of the 34 at-large bids went to teams from
smaller conferences. That included St. Joe’s, which earned one of the final
spots in the bracket and Gonzaga, which made it despite losing to San Diego in
the final of the West Coast Conference tournament.