COLLEGE BASKETBALL : TEAM-BY-TEAM LOOK AT THE NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : MIDWEST REGIONAL

1. KANSAS (23-5)

* Player to watch: Surprise, it’s Sean Pearson, a junior small forward who staggered toward the postseason in a dreadful shooting slump. When Pearson is hitting his shot, the Jayhawks are nearly unstoppable. When he isn’t, his entire game goes into a funk, from offense to defense. Not good, since Pearson is the second perimeter option (behind Jerod Haase) and almost always guards the opponent’s best swingman.

* Little-known fact: Four Jayhawks have grade-point averages of 3.45 or better--and not a Basket Weaving 101 or Underwater Art Appreciation course in the bunch.

* Outlook: Kansas has everything to reach the Final Four--a dependable point guard (Jacque Vaughn), plenty of perimeter shooting (Haase and the inconsistent Pearson), a huge and talented front line (Raef LaFrentz, Scot Pollard and Greg Ostertag), one of the best coaches in the business (Roy Williams), decent depth (B.J. Williams) and perhaps the fewest number of weaknesses among the top 10 teams.

2. ARKANSAS (27-6)

* Player to watch: After a slow start, junior power forward Corliss Williamson has once again asserted himself as a major force for the Razorbacks. The most valuable player of last year’s Final Four is the second-leading scorer and seventh-leading rebounder in the Southeastern Conference. He is also an excellent passer.

* Little-known fact: Coach Nolan Richardson has won an NCAA championship, an NIT championship and a junior college championship.

* Outlook: If 6-9, 265-pound center Dwight Stewart is healthy and guard Davor Rimac can handle more minutes off the bench, then the Razorbacks should make another run at the Final Four. Williamson and junior forward Scotty Thurman are doing what they did during last season’s championship season--dominating the inside and hitting from the outside. Arkansas has taken everyone’s best shot during the regular season. Now it’s the Razorbacks’ turn to hit back.

3. PURDUE (24-6)

* Player to watch: With Glenn Robinson gone to the NBA, senior forward Cuonzo Martin has improved his own game and become the leader of the Boilermakers. He averages nearly 18 points.

* Little-known fact: During his first two seasons at Purdue, Martin was 0 for 7 in three-point shooting. Now, he’s the Boilermakers’ career leader in three-point baskets.

* Outlook: We owe an apology to Coach Gene Keady. We figured his team would reach the NCAA tournament, but we didn’t think the Boilermakers would reach it as easily as this. Keady has done a wonderful job with Martin and senior guard Matt Waddell as the centerpieces of a balanced attack. Purdue plays solid defense, has a deep bench, but sometimes has trouble scoring points. In honor of its surprise year, we’ll pick them to reach the Sweet 16.

4. VIRGINIA (22-8)

* Player to watch: When Cory Alexander, a second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference player, went down with a broken ankle earlier this season, the Cavaliers actually became a better team. The reason? Freshman guard Curtis Staples, who is shooting about 52% from the three-point line since replacing Alexander in the starting lineup (about 45% overall, which is second best in the ACC).

* Little-known fact: Jeff Jones, the youngest coach in ACC history to win 100 games, broke bones in his right hand after angrily slamming it against a blackboard following a Feb. 1 loss to Maryland. Jones later said he heard the bones break, but couldn’t let his team see what sort of pain he was in. So he kept a straight face, even when the hand began swelling in the postgame news conference.

* Outlook: This season’s Cavaliers are different from past Jones teams. They can push the ball upcourt, shoot three-point baskets and play in-your-face defense. Weaknesses: They have problems scoring lots of points and their interior defense is suspect.

5. ARIZONA (23-7)

* Player to watch: Without a doubt, transfer forward Ben Davis. Davis, whom Coach Lute Olson once called the “biggest impact player to come into our program,” has been something of a flop this year. He was supposed to be the missing rebounding link for the Wildcats, but he hasn’t fit into the Arizona system. Furthermore, he and Damon Stoudamire, the team’s best player, were declared ineligible for the Wildcats’ last conference game because of alleged NCAA rules violations. If they are allowed to play in the tournament, the Wildcats will be tough to beat.

* Little-known fact: Marty Barmentloo, a 6-7 forward from Australia, is Olson’s first foreign player since coming to Arizona in 1983.

* Outlook: Arizona could reach the Elite Eight, but a great deal depends on Davis, Stoudamire and forward Joe Blair. Still, the Wildcats have Final Four experience and a very good coach in Olson.

6. MEMPHIS (22-9)

* Player to watch: Freshman center Lorenzen Wright has established himself as one of the top newcomers in the country. He averages 15 points, which is much better than was expected from a first-year player.

* Little-known fact: After a 13-victory season in 1993-94, Tiger followers were quick to criticize Coach Larry Finch. Attendance was down this season and there have been rumors about Finch’s future. Tough crowd, especially since Finch lost guard Anfernee Hardaway to the NBA and later lost junior forward David Vaughn to a stress fracture. This season should quiet the critics.

* Outlook: Memphis could be a tournament sleeper. They lost close games to Arkansas and Georgetown, but have won several tight contests in the Great Midwest. This team is similar to Maryland a season ago: very young, but very talented. The Tigers feature a sophomore point guard, sophomore forward, freshman center, junior forward and junior college transfer at off-guard.

7. SYRACUSE (19-9)

* Player to watch: Lucious Jackson, a 6-6 senior forward, isn’t as consistent as star swingman Lawrence Moten or forward John Wallace. But when Jackson, perhaps the most athletic of the Orangeman starters, can contribute double-digit points, Syracuse is a much more dangerous team.

* Little-known fact: The Orangemen were 2-5 in February, only their first losing month since March 1991.

* Outlook: At best, a Sweet 16 team. Syracuse has a wonderful core of starters in Moten, Wallace and guard Michael Lloyd, but it is Jackson and center J.B. Reafsnyder, along with a so-so bench, who will determine if the Orangemen can win two games.

8. WESTERN KENTUCKY (26-3)

* Player to watch: Junior swingman Chris Robinson, the Sun Belt Conference player of the year, is the Hilltoppers’ leading scorer.

* Little-known fact: First-year Western Kentucky Coach Matt Kilcullen was named the league’s coach of the year. He becomes the first coach to earn coach of the year honors in the same conference at two different schools in consecutive seasons. Kilcullen was at Jacksonville last season.

* Outlook: Better than you think. The Hilltoppers won 21 of their last 22 regular-season games. Of their three regular-season losses, one came against Massachusetts and the other to Tulsa. Western Kentucky has a balanced offense, with five players in double figures. A first-round victory wouldn’t be such a shock.

9. MICHIGAN (17-13)

* Player to watch: Senior swingman Ray Jackson carried the Wolverines down the stretch, leading the team in scoring and clutch plays.

* Little-known fact: Kevin Garnett, a 6-10 forward/center from Farragut Academy in Chicago, is reportedly leaning toward signing with the Wolverines. If it happens, Michigan would get a player some coaches have suggested is good enough to make the jump from high school to the NBA.

* Outlook: Don’t expect much. The Fab Five has been reduced to the Pretty Good Two, which means the Wolverines will go as far as Jackson and Jimmy King can take them. A tournament tip: Watch to see if Michigan is playing tough defense, scoring on transition and if King and Jackson are taking good shots. If not, the Wolverines are doomed.

10. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (23-8)

* Player to watch: Forward Chris Carr, the Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, has increased his scoring average in each of his three seasons at Southern Illinois.

* Little-known fact: When last seen in the NCAA tournament as a player at Kentucky, 6-9 center Aminu Timberlake was getting stepped on by Duke forward Christian Laettner. Timberlake then transferred to Carbondale.

* Outlook: The Salukis are good enough to earn their third consecutive tournament bid, but probably not good enough to earn a first-round victory.

11. LOUISVILLE (19-13)

* Player to watch: Without injured freshman Samaki Walker in the lineup, the Cardinals lost four games. When he returned, Louisville promptly beat Virginia Commonwealth by 16. The Cardinals are a completely different team with the star center in the lineup. Just ask Kentucky, which saw Walker block 11 shots during an early season Louisville victory.

* Little-known fact: Coach Denny Crum is one of only three active college coaches to be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. The others are Indiana’s Bob Knight and North Carolina’s Dean Smith.

* Outlook: If Walker, who is back from a stress fracture in his foot, can stay healthy, the Cardinals could get on a small roll.

12. MIAMI, OHIO (22-6)

* Player to watch: Forward Devin Davis, the Mid-American Conference freshman of the year a season ago, is best known for his scoring and rebounding, as well as his dreadlocks. The 6-7, 220-pounder makes a basketball and hair fashion statement.

* Little-known fact: In one of the more obscure season-openers, the Redskins played tiny Heidelberg College, a Division III school in Tiffin, Ohio.

* Outlook: Enjoy the moment, fellas.

13. NICHOLLS STATE (24-5)

* Player to watch: Reggie Jackson, a 6-6, 240-pound post-up player, is averaging about 23 points and 11 rebounds per game. He is only the third player in Southland Conference history to be named to the all-league team four consecutive seasons. Call him Mr. March.

* Little-known fact: Before a Baton Rouge, La., radio station recently agreed to broadcast Nicholls State games, the Jackson family had to drive 45 minutes toward the Thibodaux campus to pick up the games on the car radio.

* Outlook: Too bad the Colonels won’t be around long. Jackson is fun to watch and 5-8 senior point guard Ray Washington has a great story to tell. Washington, then an 18-year-old freshman, saw his National Guard unit activated shortly after the start of the Desert Storm campaign. He was sent to Saudi Arabia to help build runways. He can still remember seeing Iraqi SCUD missiles fly over the air base.

14. WISCONSIN GREEN BAY (22-7)

* Player to watch: Junior 6-7 center Jeff Nordgaard loves postseason tournaments. Nordgaard had 28 points and 13 rebounds in the championship game of the Midwestern Collegiate tournament. In the NCAA tournament last year, he had 24 points as the Phoenix upset California and Jason Kidd in the first round then scored 19 in a loss to Syracuse.

* Little-known fact: This is Coach Dick Bennett’s fifth postseason appearance in six years.

* Outlook: Bennett isn’t a secret in the coaching profession. His teams are patient, smart, don’t take bad shots and try to dictate the game’s tempo. If the Phoenix wins its first-round game against Purdue, don’t call it an upset.

15. TEXAS SOUTHERN (22-6)

* Player to watch: Junior point guard Kevin Granger is averaging 20.1 points, 4.5 assists and 1.6 steals. Coach Robert Moreland tells anyone who will listen that Granger is among the best guards in the country.

* Little-known fact: This is only the third NCAA bid for the Tigers.

* Outlook: If the tempo isn’t too fast, Texas Southern could make things interesting. The Tigers hardly ever get blown out, mostly because they run a patient half-court offense. Earlier this season, they beat Minnesota and New Mexico.

16. COLGATE (17-12)

* Player to watch: 6-10 freshman center Adonal Foyle, who could have had his pick of nearly any school in the country, picked Colgate rather than, say, Syracuse or Duke, which desperately wanted him. The former McDonald’s All-American is averaging 17 points and five blocks.

* Little-known fact: Colgate lost four starters from last season’s team . . . and was the preseason pick by Patriot League coaches to win the conference title. The reasons? Foyle and Tucker Neale, a senior swingman averaging 23 points.

* Outlook: The Red Raiders should consider a loss in the first round an educational experience.