ANALYSIS : The Road Ahead Is Tough for Las Vegas

In a word, the top-ranked, unbeaten and defending national champion Nevada-Las Vegas basketball team is loaded. And, so, it appears, is the competition.

After promising not to stack any of the four regional brackets, the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament selection committee seems to have done just that to the Runnin’ Rebels when the tournament pairings were announced Sunday.

UNLV (30-0), trying to become the first team to repeat as champion since UCLA in 1973, is top seed in the West. That region looks like the NCAA tournament’s most difficult, even though selection committee chair man Jim Delany has said repeatedly that UNLV would not be given a tougher road because its NCAA probation was delayed until next year.

Aside from the Rebels, the West includes second seed and Pacific-10 champion Arizona (26-6), third seed and Big East tournament champion Seton Hall (22-8), and fourth seed and Western Athletic Conference regular champion Utah (28-3). That is not to mention Georgetown (18-12), which could face UNLV if the Hoyas beat Vanderbilt Friday in Tucson, Ariz.

When asked Sunday night if the West is the toughest region, Delany said: “I wouldn’t say that. What makes it pretty tough is UNLV being there. UNLV was head and shoulders above everyone else last year, and is head and shoulders above everyone else this year. It’s the presence of UNLV that raises the level of the region.”

“I kind of thought they’d do that to us,” UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian said of his team’s bracket. “People have been asking me all week who I feared the most, and Georgetown was one of the two I feared all along, and we get them in the second game if both win, in all probability.”

Meanwhile, when it comes to top seeds, the selection committee does not usually put much stock in the outcome of individual conference tournaments. And then there are exceptions, such as this season.

Take what happened Sunday, when seventh-ranked North Carolina saw its stock rise dramatically with a 22-point rout of sixth-ranked Duke in the Atlantic Coast Conference final at the Charlotte Coliseum.

As a result, the Tar Heels (26-5) were given the No. 1 seed in the East Regional ahead of Indiana, which had a better record (28-4) and a higher national ranking (fourth). The Hoosiers were sent to the Southeast Regional as the No. 2 seed.

Ohio State (25-3), which fell into a share of the Big Ten title with Indiana by losing at Iowa Sunday, is No. 1 in the Midwest, and Southwest champion Arkansas (31-3) is No. 1 in the Southeast.

There were some strange seedings, as well as some teams who felt left out. Wake Forest (18-10), one of six ACC teams invited, got a fifth seed in the Southeast. Duke (26-7), despite beating North Carolina twice during the regular season, was shipped out to the Midwest as a No. 2 seed. The Demon Deacons were the only ACC team in the Southeast.

As for the uninvited, Patriot League champion Fordham (24-7) probably could make the strongest case, with a regular-season victory over Seton Hall. Others whose bubble burst yesterday included Providence (17-12), Houston (18-10), Alabama-Birmingham (18-13) and LaSalle (19-9).

The tournament begins Thursday at four sub-regional sites, and continues next week at regionals in East Rutherford, N.J., Pontiac, Mich., Seattle and here in Charlotte. The Final Four will be held at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis March 30 and April 1.

The regional at Cole Field House marks the return of the NCAA tournament to the University of Maryland campus for the first time in 14 years. The games will be played Thursday, beginning about noon, and on Saturday.

Delany sounded pleased about the entire field.

“There is improved parity between the so-called major-majors and mid-majors,” said Delany, commissioner of the Big Ten. “This includes the selection of New Orleans and the high seeds given to Princeton (eighth) and East Tennessee State (10th).”

Perennial NCAA powers left out of this year’s tournament include Oklahoma (16-14), Michigan (14-14) and Notre Dame (12-20). Three tournament-caliber teams -- Missouri (20-10), Illinois (21-10) and No. 10 Kentucky (22-6) -- are on probation and ineligible for the tournament.