Matchups

(Tipoff times MDT)

• Thursday: West Regional semifinals at San Jose, Calif.

No. 1 Kansas (32-4) vs. No. 4 Southern Illinois (29-6), 5:10 p.m. It's the Jayhawks' all-court athleticism against the Salukis' solid, disruptive defense. Kansas will try to push the pace. Southern Illinois prefers a half-court game.

No. 2 UCLA (28-5) vs. No. 3 Pittsburgh (29-7), approximately 7:40 p.m. UCLA coach Ben Howland, a defensive guru and a fun and pleasant man, goes against his old school. Both teams have experience and play the game with intelligence.

• Thursday: South Regional semifinals at San Antonio

No. 2 Memphis (32-3) vs. No. 3 Texas A&M (27-6), 5:27 p.m. The Tigers' 78-rpm, up-and-down-the-floor style will be a major challenge for the Aggies and their rising star of a coach, Billy Gillispie. The Tigers must keep Acie Law IV from having a monster game.

No. 1 Ohio State (32-3) vs. No. 5 Tennessee (24-10), approximately 7:57 p.m. The Buckeyes are more than center Greg Oden. Their guard trio of Ron Lewis, Mike Conley Jr. and Jamar Butler gives opponents fits on both ends. But Ohio State has looked vulnerable at times in recent games.

• Friday: Midwest Regional semifinals at St. Louis

No. 1 Florida (31-5) vs. No. 5 Butler (29-6), 5:10 p.m. When the Gators are on - and they usually are - they're as good as anybody. But don't count out the Bulldogs. They take care of the ball and play consistently outstanding defense.

No. 3 Oregon (28-7) vs. No. 7 UNLV (30-6), approximately 7:40 p.m. Should be a highly entertaining game. UNLV thought it deserved a higher seed and proved it with solid all- around performances against Georgia Tech and Wisconsin.

• Friday: East Regional semifinals at East Rutherford, N.J.

No. 2 Georgetown (28-6) vs. No. 6 Vanderbilt (22-11), 5:27 p.m. Vanderbilt has been up and down, but when swingman Derrick Byars is cooking, the Commodores are tasty. The Hoyas play a version of the patient Princeton system and don't beat themselves.

No. 1 North Carolina (30-6) vs. No. 5 Southern California (25-11), approximately 7:57 p.m. North Carolina is young but extraordinarily talented. USC gives up size on the front line but compensates with excellent perimeter play and strong defense.

Five fun guys to watch

• Tyler Hansbrough, C/F, North Carolina. Brings relentless energy and never-wavering passion. A consummate team player with an ever-revving motor.

• Darren Collison, G, UCLA. Biggest preseason question for the Bruins was how he would do trying to replace Jordan Farmar, a gifted point guard who left for the NBA. Collison has been masterful running the UCLA show.

• Aaron Brooks, G, Oregon. A pure scorer who can put up points lots of ways, Brooks is the straw that stirs the Ducks' drink. His teammates feed off him.

• Acie Law IV, G, Texas A&M. Gives the Aggies a little bit of everything - scoring, distributing, defense. He's a natural leader and the nation's best clutch shooter late in a game.

• Kevin Kruger, G, UNLV. The backcourt glue holding together the deep and versatile Rebels. A smart streak shooter with an enormous heart, he plays like the coach's son he is.

Ugly ducklings

Nike, headquartered down the road from the Oregon campus, has outfitted the Ducks in some of the more interesting, and sometimes outlandish, uniforms in college. The uniforms the Ducks wore during their second-round win against Winthrop were not just yellow. They were YELLOW! Ducks such as Tajuan Porter looked like a bunch of metallic bananas on the court.

Taking one for the team

UNLV all-conference forward Wendell White spent most of February with his jaw wired shut after breaking it taking a charge against Wyoming. White, who played through the injury but wasn't as effective as he usually is for a few games, is back to his regular playing weight after losing 10 pounds. White said he did a lot of sleeping and TV watching during the ordeal so he wouldn't think about food.

Safe prediction

With 16 teams left, that means CBS ceaselessly will show 16 nervous wives of coaches in the stands. In NCAA play, the only absolute locks are No. 1 seeds in the first round and lots of face time for the wives.

History lesson

The Memphis Tigers' school colors were established as blue and gray in the early 1900s, when the school was known as West Tennessee State Normal School, as a symbol of unity in a nation still recovering from the Civil War.

Numbers game

0 double-digit seeds advanced to the Sweet 16, only the second time that has happened since the tournament went to the 64-team (later 65-team) bracket in 1985. The lowest seed left in this year's field is No. 7 UNLV. The only other year since 1985 when no seed No. 10 or lower advanced to the Sweet 16 was 1995.

Longest shots

The lowest seeds to make it the Final Four were No. 11s - Louisiana State in 1986 and George Mason in 2006. The lowest seed to win the championship was No. 8 Villanova in 1985.

Proof of parity

When Duke lost in the first round against Virginia Commonwealth last week, it snapped the Blue Devils' nine-year streak of Sweet 16 appearances. The longest current streak including this year's tournament is two, shared by Florida, Georgetown, Memphis and UCLA. Remarkably, only one team in this year's Sweet 16 made it this far two seasons ago, in 2005. That was North Carolina. The Tar Heels currently would have a three-year Sweet 16 streak had they not been upset by George Mason in the second round last year.

Disappointed dozen

Only four schools from last year's Sweet 16 - Florida, Georgetown, Memphis and UCLA - made it that far this season. And seven of the 12 that failed to get back to the Sweet 16 didn't make the NCAA field. Here's what happened to the 12 from last year that failed to get back to the Sweet 16 this year.

• Boston College: Lost against Georgetown, second round.

• Bradley: Not in tournament.

• Connecticut: Not in tournament.

• Duke: Lost against Virginia Commonwealth, first round.

• George Mason: Not in tournament.

• Gonzaga: Lost against Indiana, first round.

• Louisiana State: Not in tournament.

• Texas: Lost against Southern California, second round.

• Villanova: Lost against Kentucky, first round.

• Washington: Not in tournament.

• West Virginia: Not in tournament.

• Wichita State: Not in tournament.

Pacific-10 pride

Thanks in large part to the 11 won by UCLA, the Pacific-10 holds the record for most NCAA titles by a conference with 15. Second on the list? It's the Big Ten, with 10.

You never know

Butler, which plays Florida on Friday, is in the Sweet 16 despite being picked to finish seventh in the nine-team Horizon League in the preseason. Six Horizon teams were picked to finish ahead of the Bulldogs in The Sporting News preseason college basketball magazine. Here's what TSN wrote about Butler before the season: "Most teams that lose the conference player of the year (Brandon Polk) and a pair of starting guards probably would stand little chance of contending. But the Bulldogs have a shot - albeit a long one - because of the trusty system of ball control and tight defense used by coach Todd Lickliter." Trusty system, indeed.

Almost automatic

Butler's A.J. Graves is the last guy the Gators want to foul if the game is close down the stretch. Graves is second in Division I in free-throw percentage at 95.3 percent. The leader is Gonzaga guard Derek Raivio (96.1 percent).

Regulars

In the 33 tournaments since 1975, the first year all teams had to win at least one game to reach the Sweet 16, 15 schools have played in 10 or more Sweet 16s.

School Sweet 16s

North Carolina 21

Kentucky 20

Duke 19

UCLA 16

Kansas 15

Louisville 15

Indiana 14

Syracuse 14

Arizona 12

Connecticut 12

Georgetown 11

Maryland 11

Arkansas 10

Michigan State 10

Nevada-Las Vegas 10

• Note: The record for consecutive Sweet 16 appearances is held by North Carolina. The Tar Heels went to 13 straight from 1981 through 1993.

Tribute to a fallen friend

USC, resurgent under former Iowa State and Chicago Bulls coach Tim Floyd, has dedicated its season to point guard Ryan Francis who was shot to death during the offseason. Francis was such a popular player that every teammate flew to Louisiana for his funeral.

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