WHAT TO LOOK FOR

* The draw: No. 2-seeded Iowa State has seven consecutive victories, most recently over Oklahoma (No. 3 seeded in the West) and Oklahoma State (No. 3 seeded in the East) on back-to-back days, but No. 4 Syracuse has lost five of its last 10. No. 6 UCLA has won six in a row, but No. 7 Auburn ended the regular season with four consecutive losses, not counting the sound defeat to the NCAA in the Chris Porter suspension. No. 9 Saint Louis got in by winning four games in four days as the ninth-seeded team in the Conference USA tournament, but No. 5 Kentucky enters off consecutive losses--first to Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference quarterfinals, then starting guard Desmond Allison to the law, a DUI charge that also earned him an indefinite suspension from the team. No. 1 Michigan State needs to beat Valparaiso and the Utah-Saint Louis winner to get virtual home games in Auburn Hills, Mich., for a second consecutive trip to the Final Four.

* Best first-round game: Utah against Saint Louis. Ute Coach Rick Majerus would probably have preferred a shot at UCLA, but will have to settle for a former Bruin assistant, Lorenzo Romar, also an assistant to Majerus on the 22-and-under national team three years ago. Even Romar is amazed the way Saint Louis has been playing with its head in the clouds, and Utah is rightfully concerned about the Billikens’ quickness. Not that Utah doesn’t have enough concerns in general--at No. 8, this is its lowest seeding in five years.

* Sleeper: Can UCLA, unable to sneak up on any team because of name alone, ever be a sleeper? Especially after making so much noise at the end of the season, beating Stanford on national television no less? This would be the year. Although things can go bad as quickly as they came into focus, this is a very dangerous team as No. 6s go. The Bruins have not only had a long runway the last three weeks for this moment, but now get Ball State, which doesn’t seem capable of controlling the pace of a game as past upstarts Detroit Mercy and Princeton did. A possible second-round meeting with No. 3 Maryland would pit teams with similar styles.

* Upset in the making: Syracuse is going nowhere fast, but figures to survive meticulous Samford in the first round, before getting the gate soon after. The status of Auburn--a respectable preseason choice to reach the Final Four--is another matter. Tiger players kept saying they weren’t shell-shocked by Porter’s suspension, but kept losing before having a revival of sorts in the SEC tournament with two victories before falling to Arkansas. Creighton gets the honors this time.

* Impact coach: Michigan State’s Tom Izzo doesn’t have the resume of Majerus or the stature of Kentucky’s Tubby Smith, but there’s certainly some niche being carved. The Spartans are no beauty contest winners on offense, but they defend and rebound and play with the fire and grit of their coach’s Michigan upbringing. School officials, recognizing his growing marketability, have re-worked Izzo’s contract after each of the last two seasons.

* Impact player: Marcus Fizer of Iowa State is the Big 12 player of the year, but about to get the big-stage recognition he deserves. Some are touting him as national player of the year. A 6-8, 265-pound junior, he arrived as Iowa State’s first-team McDonald’s All-America, then led the conference in scoring as a sophomore, but while shooting 45% and as the Cyclones went 15-15. This season, he’s at 63% and Iowa State is tied for the most victories (29) in the nation.

* The pick: Michigan State.