East: It's hard not to have pity for Blue Devils

Parrish: Breakdown | Final Four Picks

A No. 1 seed is mainly an ego boost. It's not like it really matters if a team is the first seed or the second seed, not in this day of pods and geographic coddling of most of the top seeds.

If Mike Krzyzewski wins another NCAA title, he'll have to do it as a No. 2 seed. (US Presswire)

Still, I feel bad for Duke. For Duke's ego. Because the Blue Devils did what they needed to do to get a No. 1 seed, and the selection committee didn't reward them.

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Not sure which No. 1 seed should have gotten the boot to make room for Duke, but how can Duke have the best RPI in the country and win its conference tournament ... and not be a No. 1?

Seriously. Explain that to me logically. Or rant and rave and call me a Duke homer, which might just kill me -- you can die laughing, you know -- but won't explain how Duke isn't a No. 1 seed despite its RPI and its ACC tournament championship and its eight wins in its last nine games, the only loss coming at North Carolina.

Duke didn't even get the top No. 2 seed, presumably, because the selection committee's S-shaped curve is supposed to put the best No. 2 seed in the same region as the worst No. 1. And the fourth No. 1 seed was Connecticut. Pittsburgh was the second overall No. 1 seed.

Poor Duke. Seriously.

Three storylines

1. Catch these coaches now: Because they won't be at their East Regional schools for long. Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant could be gone in a few weeks. Ditto for American's Jeff Jones. Travis Ford isn't going to retire at Oklahoma State. Nor will Sean Miller retire at Xavier. These are facts. Well, that was conjecture. But I bet I'm right.

2. Salt in the Kentucky wound: As if it wasn't galling enough that Kentucky didn't reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in nearly 20 years. As if that wasn't painful enough for second-year coach Billy Gillispie and his supporters. But now, the guy who left Kentucky in a huff, Tubby Smith, has taken dreadful Minnesota to the tournament ... while Kentucky sits this one out. Incredible. Plus Gillispie's old team, Texas A&M, made it. But the Aggies are in another region, so we're not talking about them here.

3. Villanova staying home: Third seeds don't often get treated as well as Villanova, which will stay home for two games by playing in the Philadelphia pod. Meaning an easy trip to the Sweet 16 for the Wildcats, even though their second-round game with UCLA would be difficult on a true neutral floor. This one won't be neutral, and Villanova won't have a tough time until it reaches the Sweet 16 and play Duke -- where I say Villanova will win. Because I'm a Jay Wright guy.

East Regional picks

Who will win: Villanova is my pick, and that scares me because the Sweet 16 will be tough for the 'Cats, against Duke. In the region final Villanova should see Pittsburgh, which it beat by 10 earlier this season (at home).

Dark-horse pick: Not one. Not from this region. This is the chalkiest region in the history of chalky regions. Remember that when you're filling our your brackets, and if you take my advice and go chalk in this region and win some money, please send some to me.

Most likely upset: OK, so it's not all chalk. No. 12 seed Wisconsin will beat fifth-seeded Florida State. Badgers coach Bo Ryan is not to be trifled with, whereas Florida State's Leonard Hamilton is a truffle to be devoured by real coaches. Nope -- not a Leonard Hamilton guy.

Best mascot: How about "worst mascot"? American is the Eagles, which is easy and cliché and lame. The mascot for a school called "American" should have been a heavy guy on a recliner watching syndicated shows of Family Guy. Or whatever comes on CBS, I mean.

Best point guard: Pittsburgh's Levance Fields has the most absurd assist-turnover ratio I've ever seen from a college point guard, nearly 4-to-1. That happens in the NBA, but not in college, where anything over 3-to-1 is incredible. But 4-to-1? Absurd.

Best post player: DeJuan Blair is phat. Maybe fat. Whatever he is, he's huge and he's great, averaging 15.6 points and 12.2 rebounds. He's Ontario Lett with game, is what he is.

Best coach: Mike Krzyzewski. You were expecting another name? You can't be serious. Coach K is in the midst of rewriting every coaching record that matters -- at Duke, in the ACC and even nationally. The man is a monster.

Best reputation: UCLA has won more national titles (11) than any school, and has almost won more titles than any two schools. Kentucky is second at seven, followed by Indiana at five.

Five stars on display

1. Derrick Brown (Xavier): I love dunkers who can shoot, and Brown is one of those. He's shooting 43.8 percent on 3-pointers and is one of the most acrobatic players in the country. Oh, and he's 6-8. No wonder the NBA loves him.

2. Sam Young (Pittsburgh): Young has been overshadowed this season by the emergence of DeJuan Blair, but Young averages 18.7 ppg and is one of the best small forwards in the country.

3. Dante Cunningham (Villanova): Awful as a freshman (2.2 ppg), Cunningham has steadily improved into one of the best power forwards in the country at 16 ppg and 7.2 rpg as a senior.

4. A.J. Abrams (Texas): He's probably not going to get there, but Abrams -- who has 1,926 points -- would be one of the most unlikely 2,000-point scorers in college basketball history. He's a 5-11 shooting guard. That's crazy.

5. James Anderson (Oklahoma State): The 6-6 sophomore averages 18.6 ppg and has scored more than 30 four times.

Five random notes

1. An Elite Eight matchup between UCLA's Ben Howland and the man who replaced him at Pittsburgh, Jamie Dixon, would be neat. Won't happen. But still ... would be neat.

2. Or how about this potential Sweet 16 game, between Villanova's Scottie Reynolds and Texas' Damion James? Both were in Kelvin Sampson's last recruiting class at Oklahoma, and both split the Sooners after Sampson left for Indiana.

3. American coach Jeff Jones played with Ralph Sampson at Virginia. Imagine a Sweet 16 meeting between American and Minnesota, which has Sampson's kid at center. That would make Jones feel old. But happy to be in the Sweet 16.

4. I'll be damned, but Murry Bartow is still coaching in college ... and he's the guy at East Tennessee State. And he still spells his first name silly. I know -- look who's talking, right?

5. Florida State assistant coach Stan Jones has the worst moustache in major college basketball. History.