COLLEGE BASKETBALL / GENE WOJCIECHOWSKI : Let’s Get This Thing Unfolded and Hit the Highway

In case you don’t have a map for the road to Seattle, here’s ours:

EAST

And this is the “weak” regional?

All you have is top-seeded Wake Forest, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and beat North Carolina twice in 13 days--once at Chapel Hill and once on a neutral court. There is No. 2 Massachusetts, which came this close to a top seeding, and No. 3 Villanova, which has forward Kerry Kittles, the third-hottest player in the nation behind UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon and Wake’s Randolph Childress. Fourth-seeded Oklahoma State features porcupine-coiffured Bryant Reeves, who aw-shucks himself to about 22 points and 10 rebounds per game. No. 5 Alabama is better than its 22-9 record. And No. 6 Tulsa. . . . well, UCLA can recite the Golden Hurricane’s recent tournament history.

Best first-round game: Alabama vs. No. 12 Pennsylvania.

Penn deserved better than a 12th seeding, especially after victories over Michigan, Nebraska and St. John’s and near-wins against Villanova and Temple. The Quakers have attempted 573 three-point shots and made 40.7%, which helps hide their lack of size on the front line. Alabama had better be very careful about this one.

Runner-up: Tulsa vs. No. 11 Illinois. Remember this: Under Coach Lou Henson, the Illini never have beaten a higher-seeded team in the tournament.

Team most likely to surprise: No. 10 Stanford.

Team most likely to flop: Massachusetts.

Office-pool advice: First round--Wake Forest over No. 16 North Carolina A&T;, No. 9 St. Louis over No. 8 Minnesota, Alabama over Penn, Oklahoma State over No. 13 Drexel, Tulsa over Illinois, Villanova over No. 14 Old Dominion, Stanford over No. 7 North Carolina Charlotte, UMass over No. 15 St. Peter’s. Second round--Wake Forest over Saint Louis, Alabama over Oklahoma State, Villanova over Tulsa, UMass over Stanford. Regional semifinals--Wake Forest over Alabama, Villanova over UMass. Regional final--Wake Forest over Villanova.

WEST

Memo to UCLA honks: Enough with the whining about having the toughest second-round game in the tournament. If your Bruins are as good as we think, it won’t matter who’s there Sunday at Boise--No. 9 Indiana or No. 8 Missouri.

As for the rest of the regional, it’s a little on the thin side. No. 2 Connecticut has lost only four games, but two of them came in the last two weeks. And when the Huskies lose, they really lose, including a 29-point defeat to Kansas and 23- and 16-point defeats to Villanova.

Third-seeded Maryland finished the ACC tournament with a solid game against North Carolina in the semifinals and will play even better when Coach Gary Williams returns to the sideline. Utah was hoping for a No. 6 or No. 5 seeding and instead got bumped up to a No. 4. Coach Rick Majerus’ team earned it. Fifth-seeded Mississippi State isn’t getting much attention, but we wouldn’t want to play them.

Best first-round game: Missouri vs. Indiana. Stormin’ Norman Stewart and his 567 career victories vs. Bob Knight and his 557. By the way, Knight forever ruined his image as a tough guy with his heartfelt display toward son Pat at Sunday’s senior day ceremonies. “Patrick Knight is my all-time favorite Indiana player,” a teary-eyed Knight said before embracing the senior guard.

Runner-up: No. 7 Cincinnati vs. No. 10 Temple.

Team most likely to surprise: No. 11 Texas.

Team most likely to flop: Connecticut.

Office-pool advice: First round--UCLA over No. 16 Florida International, Indiana over Missouri, Mississippi State over No. 12 Santa Clara, Utah over No. 13 Long Beach State, Texas over No. 6 Oregon, Maryland over No. 14 Gonzaga, Cincinnati over Temple, UConn over Tennessee Chattanooga. Second round--UCLA over Indiana, Utah over Mississippi State, Maryland over Texas, Cincinnati over UConn. Regional semifinals--UCLA over Utah, Maryland over Cincinnati. Regional final--UCLA over Maryland.

SOUTHEAST

The crazy regional. Since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, this is the place where dreams have come true.

Villanova, a little-regarded eighth-seeded team, came out of the Southeast Regional and beat Georgetown for the national championship. In 1986, No. 11 Louisiana State reached the Final Four. In 1988, it was sixth-seeded Providence. And in 1992, Michigan’s Fab Five advanced to the title game as a No. 6 seed.

Will it happen again? Not with No. 1 Kentucky and No. 2 North Carolina in the bracket, it won’t. The Wildcats, who are encouraged to take three-point shots early and often, were three for 18 from the arc in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game against Arkansas. Yet, Kentucky overcame a first-half deficit of 19, a second-half deficit of 12 and an overtime deficit of six with 38 seconds to play.

North Carolina has one of the best starting fives in the country, but is doomed if center Rasheed Wallace still is limping from a sprained ankle suffered five days ago. Even with Shawn Respert, No. 3 Michigan State doesn’t do much for us. Fourth-seeded Oklahoma plays hard and No. 5 Arizona State is inconsistent enough to beat regular-season opponents Maryland, Michigan, Oklahoma State and Arizona, but lose to Texas San Antonio and Oregon State during the regular season.

Best first-round game: No. 7 Iowa State vs. No. 10 Florida. The Gators, who reached the Final Four a season ago, almost didn’t receive an at-large bid. They face an Iowa State team that won 17 of its first 19 regular-season games, but only three of its last 10. Also, this matchup features a clash of the best player nicknames: Iowa State’s Fred (the Mayor) Hoiberg vs. Florida’s Dametri (Da Meat Hook) Hill.

Runner-up: No. 6 Georgetown vs. No. 11 Xavier.

Team most likely to surprise: Georgetown.

Team most likely to flop: Michigan State.

Office-pool advice: First round--Kentucky over No. 16 Mt. St. Mary’s, No. 9 Tulane over No. 8 Brigham Young, Arizona State over No. 12 Ball State, Oklahoma over No. 13 Manhattan, Georgetown over Xavier, Michigan State over No. 14 Weber State, Florida over Iowa State, North Carolina over No. 15 Murray State. Second round--Kentucky over Tulane, Arizona State over Oklahoma, Georgetown over Michigan State (the real “Jud Thud”), North Carolina over Florida. Regional semifinals--Kentucky over Arizona State, North Carolina over Georgetown (but only if Wallace is sound). Regional final--Kentucky over North Carolina.

MIDWEST

The selection committee handed Kansas a much-disputed No. 1 seeding and a possible trip to Jayhawk-friendly Kemper Arena in Kansas City, but then loaded the regional with quality teams. At least four and as many as six teams have a legitimate chance of winning the tournament’s toughest bracket.

Kansas has depth, size, coaching and geography on its side. The Jayhawks are 4-0 in NCAA tournament games played at Kemper.

No. 2 Arkansas, the defending national champion, doesn’t have an easy path to the regional final, but it appears slightly less demanding than what the Jayhawks face.

No. 3 Purdue won the Big Ten Conference championship and plays the kind of defense that could earn the Boilermakers a Sweet 16 spot.

No. 4 Virginia has two very good guards--Harold Deane and Curtis Staples--and one very hot forward--Junior Burrough.

No. 5 Arizona has regional final potential now that guard Damon Stoudamire’s father quit with the “Who, me?” defense and admitted that he accepted an airplane ticket from an agent--all without his son’s knowledge. Forward Ben Davis’ suspension hurts, but isn’t fatal.

Sixth-seeded Memphis, seventh-seeded Syracuse and 11th-seeded Louisville shouldn’t be ignored, either. The same goes for No. 14 Wisconsin Green Bay.

Best first-round game: Memphis vs. Louisville. Tiger star freshman center Lorenzen Wright (15.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.3 blocks) vs. Cardinal star freshman center Samaki Walker (14.7 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.0 blocks).

Runner-up: Purdue vs. Wisconsin Green Bay.

Team most likely to surprise: Memphis.

Team most likely to flop: Syracuse.

Office-pool advice: First round--Kansas over No. 16 Colgate, No. 9 Michigan over No. 8 Western Kentucky, Arizona over No. 12 Miami of Ohio, Virginia over No. 13 Nicholls State, Memphis over Louisville, Purdue over Wisconsin Green Bay, Syracuse over No. 10 Southern Illinois, Arkansas over No. 15 Texas Southern. Second round--Kansas over Michigan, Arizona over Virginia, Purdue over Memphis, Arkansas over Syracuse. Regional semifinals--Kansas over Arizona, Arkansas over Purdue. Regional final--Arkansas over Kansas.

FINAL FOUR

Semifinals--Arkansas over Kentucky, UCLA over Wake Forest.

Final--Arkansas over UCLA.

THE REST

Let’s see, Georgia Tech Coach Bobby Cremins says he turned down an NIT bid because of upcoming final exams. Does that mean he would have done the same had the Yellow Jackets been invited to the NCAA tournament? . . . Clemson Coach Rick Barnes insists there aren’t any hard feelings between him and North Carolina Coach Dean Smith, but you could have fooled us. Barnes was ejected from the first Tiger-Tar Heel game in early January, his team all but accused of thuggery by Smith. And last Friday, in Clemson’s ACC tournament loss to Carolina, Smith pointed at, stared down and later semi-insulted Iker Iturbe for a hard foul against star forward Jerry Stackhouse. Barnes and Smith got into a screaming match at midcourt and had to be separated. And at game’s end, a near-brawl almost broke out when Donald Williams thought he was undercut by Clemson’s Bill Harder on a layup attempt. Replays showed that Harder was trying to help, not hurt Williams. An embarrassed ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan later called the incidents a “sorry spectacle.” Said Smith: “You can foul without fouling hard.” Perhaps Smith has forgotten some of the whacks former Tar Heel center Eric Montross used to issue on occasion.

Top 10

As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. UCLA 25-2 2. Kentucky 25-4 3. Wake Forest 24-5 4. North Carolina 24-5 5. Arkansas 27-6 6. Kansas 23-5 7. Villanova 25-7 8. Massachusetts 26-4 9. Purdue 24-6 10. Connecticut 25-4

Waiting list: Maryland (24-7), Utah (27-5), Virginia (22-8), Arizona (23-7), Michigan State (22-5).