From Press Row

First off, before we get to the brackets, some more conferences crowned champions today:

ACC: UNC 89, NC St. 80

I'm just sad we don't get to see any more of Sidney Lowe's red blazer.

Big 12: Kansas 88, Texas 84 (OT)

I'm laying this one all on Longhorns coach Rick Barnes, as his superstar Kevin Durant (who had 37 pts, 10 rbs, 6 blks) barely touched the ball in overtime and only took three shots (one of which was a meaningless desperation 3 as time ran out). Run a play for him!

Big 10: Ohio St. 66, Wisconsin 49

The Badgers are not nearly the same team without Brian Butch and his offensive skills.

SEC: Florida 77, Arkansas 56

Southland: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 81, Northwestern St. 78

Congratulations to the Islanders, who earned their first-ever Tournament bid.

Now on to the brackets.

As I'm sure you've heard by now the four No. 1s are Florida (Midwest), UNC (East), Ohio St. (South) and Kansas (West). Florida as the No. 1 overall seed was a bit of a surprise, although not something I have a problem with. They're probably the one team nobody wanted to face as the defending champions and they're finally playing like themselves again.

UCLA didn't get a No. 1, but instead got the top No. 2 seed in the West, the same seed it received last year. Arguments were thrown around for Wisconsin and Georgetown even as top seeds, but they weren't really valid. The committee probably got it right.

Region-by-Region Thoughts

MIDWEST

Here I'll take Florida in a walk. In their half of the bracket, Maryland is probably the only opponent capable of beating the Gators, but they themselves must avoid an upset by No. 13 Davidson, led by Stephen Curry, who definitely could have played in the ACC but was passed over.

In the bottom half, look for Wisconsin and Oregon to face off in an intriguing contrast of styles in the Sweet 16.

Upset alert: 12-ODU over 5-Butler, 11-Winthrop over 6-Notre Dame

Winthrop is one of the best mid-majors in the field, and their guard play can carry them a couple of rounds. Butler isn't your typical 5-seed as a mid-major, and they can get beat by one of their own in ODU.

EAST

I believe UNC is the least solid of all the top seeds. I have a bad feeling about them. I just think their youth and rather inconsistent play in recent weeks will cause them to get beaten by a surprise team. Their reward as top seed is a potential Sweet 16 showdown with Kevin Durant and Texas. If Barnes tells his guards to give the damn ball to Durant, the 'Heels are going down.

Marquette vs. Michigan St. will be one of the best games of the first round. Georgetown looks to have a fairly easy road to the regional final. A matchup with Wazzu down the road would be a great game, but would put most of the TV audience to sleep because of both teams' deliberate styles.

Upset alert: 14-Oral Roberts over 3-Washington St. The Eagles beat Kansas at Kansas earlier in the year. That kind of win grabs your attention.

SOUTH

Here I like Texas A&M, led by Acie Law. After Kevin Durant, he's my favorite non-Bruin out there. Tennesse-Long Beach St. in the 5-12 game could end up being like watching a Suns-Wizards game and end in the 100s. Both teams like to get up and down the court. Stanford barely slipped into the field, being the absolute last team announced on the CBS Selection Show as an 11-seed.

Ohio St. is the top seed, and I don't see them having a problem until probably the regional final. We'll also see if No. 2 Memphis are for real or are really paper Tigers instead. They've got 30 wins, but how good are they really?

Upset Alert: 12-LBSU over 5-Tennessee

Tennessee will probably pull this one out, but they're likely to get into a shootout with Long Beach, and you never know what can happen in a one-game environment when you rely so much on the outside shooting of one player (Chris Lofton).

WEST

Here's hoping Villanova beats Kentucky because I want to see Scottie Reynolds face off against Sherron Collins and Mario Chalmers. What a couple of matchups that would be. Duke finally got knocked off their regular perch of high seeds and will have to get by a good VCU team in the 6-11 game.

UCLA is in a great position, not having to leave California to reach the Final Four, and will have an intriguing road. The Bruins start with Ben Howland's alma mater, Weber St., then could face Gonzaga in a rematch of last season's Sweet 16 thriller. Then Howland could face off against his old school Pitt before playing Kansas, one of the other premier traditional programs in college basketball history.

Upset Alert: 12-Illinois over 5-Virginia Tech, 11-VCU over 6-Duke

The Hokies certainly aren't used to this level of success, and experience does count for something this time of year. Duke just isn't as good as they have been, and VCU will put pressure on point Greg Paulus who has been severely turnover-prone this season.

Other thoughts:

- The brackets seem to be fairly balanced, with no region being a "monster." Still, the East looks to be the strongest, with top seed UNC potentially having to face Marquette or Michigan St. in the 2nd round before playing Texas just to reach the regional final.

- The teams with the biggest gripes not to make the field are probably Syracuse, Drexel and Kansas St. Syracuse and K-State both won 10 games in their conferences, plus another in their tournaments. Drexel had 14 road/neutral wins, including victories at Creighton, at Villanova and at Syracuse. Their conference finish in the Colonial (fourth, 13-5, including just 1-5 against the teams above them in VCU, ODU and Hofstra) apparently sealed their fate as they got passed over for an at-large by Old Dominion despite a stronger numerical profile.

- Air Force was ranked in the top 25 much of the season, but a late-season slide put them all the way out of the Tournament.

- USC faces off against Arkansas in the East Region 5-12 game, and even though the Hogs made the SEC final, I think their inclusion was a mistake. Coupled with UCLA falling off the top-seed line, and it appears the selection committee valued how teams fared in the conference tournaments much more strongly this season. All four top seeds won their postseason tournaments.

- The 8-9 games this season have some serious name recognition, with Arizona-Purdue, Marquette-Michigan St., BYU-Xavier and Kentucky-Villanova.

- Miami-OH received a No. 14 seed and will open against No. 3 Oregon in Spokane. This is only significant because Miami stole away the MAC title from Akron by banking in a 3 at the buzzer. The Zips were led by Romeo Travis and Dru Joyce, who were both high school teammates of LeBron James in Ohio and never made an NCAA Tournament appearance.

- Louisville will get to play the first two rounds at home in Lexington, which will be a huge advantage in a potential second-round game against Texas A&M.

- The Aggies were apparently shocked when they saw their name go up in the East region as a No. 15 seed having to play No. 2 Wisconsin before realizing it was actually Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. See the story here.