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Duke #2 In The East

Duke, UNC, Wake, B.C., Clemson, FSU, Maryland all made the tournament. The ACC, Big East, and Big Ten got seven each; the SEC only got three. The Big 12 got six including Jeff Capel's Oklahoma.

Duke opens in Greensboro in the East with Binghamton and assuming they win goes on to play the winner of #7 Texas and #10 Minnesota.

In the Philly games, #6 UCLA gets #11 VCU. The winner there plays the winner of Villanova vs. American (that's going to be Villanova).

In the top of the bracket, Pitt opens with ETSU, an underrated basketball school, and #8 Oklahoma State opens with #9 Tennessee.

In Boise, #5 Florida State gets ponderous and deliberate #12 Wisconsin, a team that just barely beat the bubble.   #4 Xavier gets the #13 Vikings of Portland State.

UNC's bracket is pretty clear for a weekend or two: they open with Brad Greenberg's Radford team, who will get great scouting help from brother Seth, but it won't help much.  #8 LSU opens  with #9 Butler, a team we'd hate to see early.  #5 Illinois opens and probably closes with Western Kentucky, and #4 Gonzaga starts up with the #13 Akron Zips.

Maryland's opening rounds could go either way: Cal is a tough opponent for them, and if they win that one, they probably get Memphis. Scratch that, they'll get Memphis.

Clemson can't be thrilled to see the bombardiers of Michigan.  When that offense works, it's a thing of beauty.  They can probably play with Oklahoma if they advance, although that's no gimme, certainly.

If Wake doesn't get a crack at Louisville, they have no one to blame but themselves.  They should make it, and if they do, that style works well for them.  Louisville is better, but not that much better.

B.C. has USC, an erratic team but with talent, and a likely second-round matchup with #2 Michigan State.  That's an intriguing game of somewhat similar styles.

We'll all be talking about this for days, so stay tuned.