The field has been drawn and quartered like a heretic, leaving the 15 strongest teams and Arizona. This is the point in the tournament in which great stories of little teams like Cleveland State and Western Kentucky end unlike every Pixar movie. (If Finding Nemo was a 14-seed, the clownfish would have undoubtedly been eaten by the shark.) All that remain are the big boys, and this year every single 1-, 2-, and 3-seed team advanced (a first in tournament history), along with two fours, a five, and that pesky 12th-seeded Arizona.
Time to look at it from a conference perspective, since this is how fans of power conferences traditionally hold confidence-pissing contests.
BIG EAST (5): LOUISVILLE, PITTSBURGH, CONNECTICUT, SYRACUSE, VILLANOVA — Until this year, no conference ever saw more than four of their schools make it this far. Yes, West Virginia got air-bombed in the first round by Dayton, and Marquette just barely fell to Missouri, but those are the only red marks. We could very well see a Big East rematch in the (where else) East region, if Villanova and Pittsburgh win their games. If it's ever happened before — a regional final featuring two teams from the same conference — then it's a very rare occurrence. If it wasn't for UNC, you'd put your eccentric uncle's inheritance on someone from the Big East winning the whole thing.
Tourney Record: 11-2
BIG XII (3): OKLAHOMA, KANSAS, MISSOURI — Ohbytheway, Kansas is still alive. Yes, they lost just about everyone important from their national championship team, and yes, they lost to UMass at home early on in the season. (Still don't know how.) Yet they, along with a couple of their friends, get to brag that the Big XII has the second-best representation in the Sweet 16. And how's this for consistency: nobody lost in the first round. They're the only multiple-bid conference that can claim that. None of their teams are favored to make the Final Four, but based on no first round knockouts, one has to say the Big XII had themselves a pretty damn good showing.
Tourney Record: 9-3
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