1. Arizona will not have the services of Loren Woods, yet still received a No. 1 seed. Does that leave the West wide open?

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2. Proof the selection committee has a sense of humor: Should Fresno State get past a first-round game against Wisconsin (and that is a big if), the Bulldogs would almost certainly then meet top-seeded Arizona and coach Lute Olson -- a longtime bitter rival of Tarkanian's.

3. Indiana State is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since Larry Bird led the Sycamores to the national title game in 1979. This is a team that defeated Indiana in Bloomington this year and is a tough first-round matchup for fifth-seeded Texas.

Three questions

1. Back in and again holding a No. 10 seed, can tournament darling Gonzaga, under new coach Mark Few, revive its magic of last year?

2. Can Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson, who last season finally won in the first round after five previous attempts, continue the winning ways that saw his Sooners get to the Sweet 16 last season?

3. Will being shipped to laid-back Tucson mellow embattled and battling St. John's?

The favorite

Despite the injury to Woods, it still has to be Arizona. While Cincinnati lost Kenyon Martin and instantly fell to Saint Louis, Arizona lost Woods and finished 4-2 without him.

Only one of those losses (at Oregon State) can be considered bad and they managed to post wins over tourney teams UCLA and Stanford with their center on the shelf. Even when they had Woods, depth was a problem for the Wildcats -- but they've dealt with it all year and have persevered.

The dark horse

Think coach John Brady and his fourth-seeded LSU Tigers like their draw? They open with Ohio Valley Conference champion Southeast Missouri State and are staring at a tough second-round test with No. 5 Texas.

Should the Tigers advance to the sweet 16, top-seeded Arizona could be waiting. The Tigers beat the Wildcats badly, 86-60, when the teams played earlier this year in Baton Rouge. And that was with Woods in Arizona's lineup.

The long shot

Gonzaga is a tough No. 10 seed. The West Coast Conference champions have nearly everybody back from last season and know a thing or two about knocking off No. 7s -- ousting Minnesota from that spot last year to spur their tourney run.

It's not like the Bulldogs have been kicking around Eastern Washington and Portland all season. They've been beaten by the best -- Temple (without Pepe Sanchez), Cincinnati (with Kenyon Martin), Oregon and Pepperdine. They've also claimed a couple victims of their own -- UCLA (in Westwood) and Pepperdine (twice).

The Bulldogs might not have another Elite Eight run in them, but a good start in the first weekend is not out of the question.

Best first-round game in Salt Lake City

The NCAA takes Tarkanian -- the former UNLV high-roller -- and puts him in a buttoned-down town like Salt Lake City. Then they seed his running, gunning Fresno State Bulldogs against Wisconsin, a team that has rarely met a game it couldn't keep in the 50s -- the point total and the decade.

Tark gets to come to the party, but he has to play by the NCAA's rules, and that means dealing with the methodical Badgers, who are holding their opponents to just 56 points per game -- fewest in the defense-crazy Big Ten. Fresno State is led by national scoring champ Courtney Alexander and averages 83.2 points per game.

Tarkanian is back in the dance, but he'll have a hard time using his favorite steps.

Best first-round game in Tucson

The Boilermakers can't like their first-round draw. No. 6 Purdue squares off with No. 11 Dayton in a gritty matchup between a couple of teams with no real stars.

Purdue is led by Brian Cardinal, the senior power forward who looks like he's 30 and plays a heady game for coach Gene Keady. The Boilermakers finished alone in second in the Big Ten, yet fell to a sixth seed by losing to Wisconsin in their first game in the conference tournament.

Dayton knows about punitive seeding. It looked like a safe bet for an eight or nine seed before losing to St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 semifinals. Now the Flyers are a No. 11 seed and have to deal with the Boilermakers.

The Flyers' top player is Mark Ashman -- something of Brian Cardinal clone. The 6-10 senior center isn't spectacular, but he averages 12.6 points and 6.2 rebounds and does just about everything coach Oliver Purnell asks.

The stars

• Courtney Alexander, SG, Fresno State: The SportsLine.com All-American averages 25.2 points a game and hit for 40 or more points twice this season. Wisconsin's defense has been splendid this year, but Alexander will provide the ultimate test.
• Stromile Swift, PF, Louisiana State: The marquee recruit who was supposed to help John Brady rebuild the Tigers has done just that. Averages 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and can defend every position on the floor.
• Chris Mihm, C, Texas: This might be the 7-footer's last stand in college, as the NBA would love to have him next year. The SportsLine.com third-team All-American is the total package -- 17.8 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.9 blocks a game.
• Eduardo Najera, PF, Oklahoma: Perhaps the toughest player in the nation, Najera scores and rebounds like a mad man, but also does all the little things it takes to win. A big reason why Oklahoma broke their first-round jinx last season.
• Erick Barkley, PG, St. John's: A SportsLine.com second-team All-American, Barkley is the most complete playmaker in the nation -- when he's not fighting his teammates.

Salt Lake City subregional

THURSDAY

• SE Missouri State (13) vs. Louisiana State (4)
• Texas (5) vs. Indiana State (12)
• Arizona (1) vs. Jackson State (16)
• Wisconsin (8) vs. Fresno State (9)

SATURDAY

Winners of first-round games advance to second-round games at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.

Tucson subregional

THURSDAY

• Purdue (6) vs. Dayton (11)
• Oklahoma (3) vs. Winthrop (14)
• Louisville (7) vs. Gonzaga (10)
• St. John's (2) vs. Northern Arizona (15)

SATURDAY

Winners of first-round games advance to second-round games at McKale Center.

Noteworthy

If Arizona survives the first two rounds and makes it into the Sweet 16, odds are it will face a team it has already played this year. There's No. 4 LSU, which crushed the Wildcats in Baton Rouge, and No. 5 Texas, which Arizona beat in Austin, 88-81. ... Think Northern Arizona is a dunk of a first-round for for St. John's? Think again. Not only are the Lumberjacks playing in their home state, they are also the same team that, as a No. 15 seed two years ago, chased No. 2 Cincinnati to the wire, forcing the Bearcats to beat them with a last-second 3-pointer.