Tournament picks equal great games

The NCAA tournament selection show is less than two weeks away. The closer it gets to March 11, the clearer it will become which seeding numbers will go in front of the school names on those brackets that are so popular. In the meantime, prepare yourself for a lot of good college basketball.\nYou can look just about anywhere and find seeding projections for the tournament. Not to diminish their importance in any way, but I don't see any reason to provide you with another list of projections, especially because they will undoubtedly change soon after this column is printed. So I'll offer you something a little more useful -- a brief explanation of seeding possibilities and important upcoming games.\nNo. 1 seeds\nThe only definite No. 1 seed right now is Stanford. Duke and North Carolina are almost locks, but not quite. The winner of Sunday's rematch in Chapel Hill will claim the regular season ACC title and secure itself a No. 1 spot. The loser, more so if it is Carolina, might be relegated to a No. 2 if it falls early in the conference tourney.\nIllinois and Michigan State look like they are going to tie for the regular season Big Ten crown, with Illinois holding the tie-breaker. Whoever does the best in the Big Ten tournament March 8-11 in Chicago should be rewarded with a top seed.\nIowa State, although a long shot, still has a chance to earn the final No. 1 seed if it wins out and Duke or Carolina falters. The Cyclones had a decent chance at a No. 1 before Saturday's drubbing at Texas. Regardless of its eventual seed, Iowa State will make some noise at tournament time.\nFlorida is an even longer shot for a top seed, but it is possible. If the Tar Heels or Blue Devils crumble, Iowa State doesn't step up, and the sixth-ranked Gators run the table in the SEC, they could find themselves at the top of a bracket. \nLate-season momentum is important to the selection committee, and the Gators have won five consecutive and nine of their last 10 games. Florida's four conference losses this season have come by a combined seven points. Sunday, the Gators get a chance to avenge one of those losses when they host 15th-ranked Kentucky, a game that has significant conference tournament and March Madness implications.\nNo. 2, 3 and on down\nIf Duke and UNC both hold on to their top seeds, the aforementioned Iowa State and Florida should each end up as No. 2 seeds.\nAnd depending on who does worse in the Big Ten tournament, either Michigan State or Illinois will be another No. 2.\nThe final No. 2 spot isn't so easy to predict; several teams have a shot.\nIf Kentucky beats Florida Sunday and goes on to win the SEC tournament, the Wildcats could take a No. 2 seed away from the Gators.\nVirginia has big wins against Duke and North Carolina in the last two weeks, but it would have to win the ACC tournament to get a No. 2 slot.\nBoston College or even Notre Dame, if either was to win the rest of its games and the Big East tournament, could sneak in to grab a No. 2 as well.\nArizona is ranked seventh in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 poll, but even if the Wildcats win both of their remaining games, they could finish third in the Pac-10, making it hard to justify a No. 2 seed.\nUCLA is an outside possibility for the last No. 2 seed. The Bruins are ranked 18th, but if they beat California Thursday and Stanford Saturday, they will tie for the Pac-10 title. Because the conference does not have a tournament, the Bruins would get the automatic bid by virtue of beating Stanford in both meetings this year.\nNaturally, all of the teams mentioned with chances to earn No. 2 seeds are also good candidates for No. 3 spots, along with Kansas, Ole Miss, Syracuse and Oklahoma.\nOther notes\nDid anyone notice who is ranked 38th in this week's ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll? None other than IU, which received four votes. The last time the Hoosiers were mentioned in the polls was in the Dec. 18-24 edition, in which IU received seven votes and placed 43rd in the nation. This marks the first time in several years a Hoosier team is peaking at the end of the Big Ten season. Could it mean more than a one-weekend stay in the Big Dance?\nHere's a request for any of you who serve on the selection committee: Give at-large berths to schools from mid-major conferences who won their regular season league title but lost in their tournament. Do this instead of favoring a less-deserving sixth- or seventh-place teams from major conferences. I know it's a lot tougher to play in the Big East and SEC than it is to play in the Big West, Missouri Valley Conference or America East Conference. But I would much rather see teams that got the job done playing in the tournament as opposed to mediocre teams in premier conferences, regardless of their schedule strengths. Give the nod to UC-Irvine (22-3), Creighton (22-6) and Hofstra (23-4) instead of Georgia (15-12) or St. John's (14-12).\nOn a similar note, where is the respect for teams such as Gonzaga? Despite the fact that it plays in the West Coast Conference, the Zags have proved they are a team to be reckoned with in late March. Entering this week, Gonzaga was 21-6, including 13-1 in conference play, yet it could only muster 10 votes in the coaches' poll. But it is a team none of the top seeds wish to see in their bracket. Look for the Zags to make a third consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16.