NCAA tourney places men in South Region

Welcome to March Madness.

While the NCAA tournament draw released yesterday held no surprises among the No. 1 seeds, the rest of the schedule held some unexpected invites and ommissions.

At the top, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona and Kansas hold the No. 1 positions. While it was given that Arizona would be in the West bracket and Kansas in the Midwest, it was left to yesterday's Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament finals to determine in which bracket the Blue Devils and UNC would be placed. With Carolina's victory, the Tar Heels earned a spot in the East bracket, which, should UNC win its first two games, would allow it to play its next two in nearby Greensboro. Carolina also extended its own consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance record to 24.

The Blue Devils were placed in the South bracket. The two host cities in the South are Atlanta, Ga., and Lexington, Ky. Many thought that if Duke went to the South, it would play its games in Atlanta, because it is closer to Durham than Lexington. However, the No. 2 seed in the South is the University of Kentucky. Because a team is not allowed to play NCAA games on its home court, the Wildcats were sent to Atlanta, leaving Lexington to the Blue Devils. In addition to being further from Durham than Atlanta, Lexington is also considered hostile to the Blue Devils, as many at Kentucky have yet to forgive Duke for beating the Wildcats in a 1992 overtime thriller in the NCAA Regional finals.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski had plenty to say on his team's placement.

"We're happy about being a No. 1 seed," he said. "We felt, though, that by winning the ACC regular season by two games we would be rewarded with the No. 1 seed in the East.

"We will be playing in a tough environment. The fans in Lexington will be against Duke advancing. I think our tough road schedule in the ACC has prepared us well for that situation."

Before Duke meets the Wildcats, however, it will have to survive its first three games. In the first round, the Blue Devils face Radford (20-9), who received an automatic bid as champion of the Big South conference. Assuming that Duke can get past the Highlanders, it will square off with the winner of the game between eighth-seeded Oklahoma St. and George Washington. The Cowboys finished the season 21-5, 11-5 in the Big 12 conference and suffered a one-point loss to Texas in the Big 12 Tournament. The Colonials (22-7, 11-5 in the Atlantic 10) lost to Xavier in the A-10 Tournament finals.