Field analysis

Sporting News, The, March 15, 2004

The NCAA selection committee has vast resources of information it uses to select and seed the field of 65. We're sharing that same kind of information with you, providing our own insight as to who is tournament worthy.

In the next nine pages, we'll prepare you for Sunday's unveiling of the bracket with all the essential information about this year's contenders. We also have expanded our analysis of the top teams, breaking down the keys to their tourney success--or potential downfalls---which could come in handy when trying to figure out which teams will make it to San Antonio.

All statistics and records listed are through the regular season, and RPI rankings are from Jerry Palm's website: CollegeRPI.com.

Kyle Veltrop's field of 65
A projection of the teams that will make
the NCAA Tournament and their seeds:

Air Force (9)
Alabama (10)
Arizona (6)
Boston College (8)
BYU (11)
Central Florida (14)
Charlotte (6)
Cincinnati (4)
Colorado (11)
Connecticut (2)
Coppin State (16)
Dayton (12)
DePaul (8)
Duke (1)
East Tennessee State (15)
Eastern Washington (13)
Florida (7)
Georgia Tech (4)
Gonzaga (2)
Illinois (4)
Kansas (5)
Kentucky (3)
Lehigh (16)
Liberty (16)
Louisiana-Lafayette (14)
Louisville (6)
LSU (10)
Manhattan (12)
Maryland (10)
Memphis (4)
Michigan State (7)
Mississippi State (1)
Mississippi Valley St. (16)
Monmouth (15)
Murray State (12)
North Carolina (5)
N.C. State (3)
Oklahoma (11)
Oklahoma State (2)
Pittsburgh (2)
Princeton (15)
Providence (3)
Saint Joseph's (1)
Seton Hall (7)
South Carolina (9)
Southeastern Louisiana (16)
Southern Illinois (7)
Southwest Missouri St. (13)
Stanford (1)
Syracuse (6)
Texas (3)
Texas Tech (9)
UAB (9)
Utah State (8)
UTEP (10)
Valparaiso (15)
Vanderbilt (8)
Vermont (13)
Virginia (11)
Va. Commonwealth (14)
Wake Forest (5)
Washington (12)
Western Michigan (13)
Wisconsin (5)
Wis.-Milwaukee (14)

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games.sportingnews.com/hoops/college/.

Top-tier teams

TSN's projected 1-4 seeds

TEAM TO WATCH

CONNECTICUT At the beginning of this season, Connecticut was on everybody's short list to be No. 1. With Ben Gordon on the perimeter and Emeka Okafor stalking the paint, the Huskies had a one-two punch that could serve as the fulcrum of a tremendous team. But when play began, there were some questions about the Huskies' supporting players. Taliek Brown was a proven distributor at the point, but UConn would only become a juggernaut if someone stepped up on the wing. Hello, Rashad Anderson. The recent emergence of the 6-5 sophomore gives the Huskies the type of diversified scoring that should make them Final Four favorites once again. Anderson averaged 16.7 points in his first three games after being promoted to the starting lineup in late February. He is a slasher who also can make 3s, the perfect weapon for a Connecticut team that needs wing help for Gordon.

They'll stay alive as long as ... their defense continues to strangle the opposition. Thanks in large part to Okafor's interior presence, the Huskies are playing some serious halfcourt defense. They press out to the perimeter, confident Okafor is looming in the paint, ready to swat away enemy attempts. A big reason UConn holds opponents below 35 percent from beyond the arc is that ability to play aggressively away from the basket. There is no more imposing interior defender in the nation than Okafor, who is averaging 4.6 blocks and has altered or just plain scared away scads of other attempts. Okafor also is the No. 2 rebounder in the nation. However, he has been having trouble with his back again, and if defenses play him physically, the Huskies' advantage on the boards could be neutralized.

They'll go home when ... turnovers pile up on them. Though Connecticut is blessed with strong backcourt play from Gordon and Brown, the Huskies can get careless with the ball. Their negative turnover margin also reflects the defense's inability to force opponents into mistakes, something that wasn't a problem for UConn in recent seasons. Another concern is at the point, where Brown is not capable of making sagging defenders pay by hitting shots.

An opposing coach says: "You have to stop them from controlling the boards and getting out on the break. You have to deal with Okafor and Gordon, but if you spend too much time on those two, then everybody else can beat you."--Michael Bradley

RPI 6 LIKELY SEED 2 RECORDS 24-6 (12-4) KEY PLAYER Ben Gordon (45.3 3PT FG %)

CINCINNATI They'll stay alive as long as ... they play precisely and efficiently on offense. After a disappointing January loss at Louisville, the Bearcats abandoned the fullcourt pressure that made them formidable early in the season. A recent shift of sophomore James White from small forward to point guard brought better flow to the offense. He averaged 6.0 assists in the last four games of the regular season; just as important, the Bearcats averaged 75.0 points. Putting White on the ball gets star PF Jason Max]ell better shots.