Team to beat
Granted, North Carolina looked flummoxed down the stretch of its loss to Duke in the ACC semifinals, and it was lulled to sleep by Virginia (53-43) on the road two weeks ago. Still, the Tar Heels appear the best-equipped team for a six-game title run. They're deep (nine players averaging at least 13.8 minutes), balanced (four guys averaging at least 12 points) and can annihilate you on the glass (nation-best 43.5 rebounds per game). And generally speaking, coach Roy Williams earns his paycheck this time of year; he's 31-9 in the NCAA tourney as Heels coach.
Hey, isn't that …?
Kansas State nudged into the 68-team field by the skin of its teeth and a career game from Barry Brown (11.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.4 assists) in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals. A Gibbs alumnus, Brown scored 15 of his team-high 21 points in the second half of Thursday's 70-64 upset of ninth-ranked Baylor, which for all intents clinched an NCAA berth for the Wildcats. They'll play in the "First Four" in Dayton against Wake Forest.
PRINT: Download, print the 2017 men's NCAA Tournament bracket
Upset alert
UCLA went into the week ranked No. 3 and came out a No. 3 seed, so watch them against second-seeded Kentucky in a potential region final with two stud freshman guards in Ball and the Wildcats' Malik Monk. Speaking of underseeding, Cincinnati — after coach Mick Cronin criticized the seeding system as being geared to fill seats and not accurately rank teams — was ranked 15th and scored a No. 6 seed, two lower than No. 18 Butler, a No. 4 seed.
Players to watch
Wake Forest has junior guard Mitchell Wilbekin, younger brother of former Gators guard Scottie … Dayton 6-10 freshman Kostas Antetokounmpo (from Athens) is the younger brother of Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo … Dayton guard Joey Gruden is the son of Redskins coach Jay and the nephew of former Bucs coach Jon Gruden, who played football at Dayton. He's scored two points in seven minutes this season. … At the end of Kentucky's bench is freshman guard Brad Calipari, head coach John's son. He's scored eight points this season on 2-of-13 shooting.