BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It's Duke and three dwarves in the East.

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OK, so maybe no team is a pushover in this year's NCAA Tournament. But the way the NCAA Tournament has gone so far, you take your favorites where you can get them.

Top-seeded Duke plays No. 5 Florida in one East Region semifinal. No. 3 Oklahoma State and No. 10 Seton Hall completed the East field Sunday with victories in Buffalo.

The regional in Syracuse, N.Y., beginning Friday definitely has a Duke tinge. Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker played under Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and is one game from playing him in the regional final.

The last time Seton Hall got to the Sweet 16 (1992), it lost to a Duke team with Amaker as an assistant.

Looking around the bracket, Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton said: "More teams have a chance to get to the Final Four than ever. I felt like when you go to the Sweet 16, it was like the Final Fours used to be in the 1980s and late 1970s. The thing has grown by leaps and bounds."

Now the pressure increases. Duke is obviously the favorite in the East, having been to eight of the past 14 Final Fours. But consider Florida, which got there in 1994, and Oklahoma State, which made it in 1995.

Seton Hall is the underdog but even has some Final Four history. It came within a couple of Rumeal Robinson foul shots of winning the 1989 national championship.

Other notables from Buffalo ...

• Oklahoma State's Desmond Mason got interested in coming to Stillwater when he watched the Cowboys in the 1995 Final Four. That was the year Bryant "Big Country" Reeves became a national phenomenon. After scoring 30 in a first-round game against Hofstra, Mason was not the focus of the offense Sunday against Pepperdine. He finished with only 13. Instead, 6-foot-10 sophomore center Fredrik Jonzen had a career-high 21 points.
• Pepperdine guard Tezale Archie quietly had a combined 25 assists in the two tournament games. "Everybody knows Pepperdine now," Archie said. "By the third day, half the building was chanting Pepperdine, so we made a statement and maybe we can start a dynasty."
• A sign? Oklahoma State is undefeated in New York state, 4-0.
• Seton Hall is the first tournament team to win consecutive overtime games since the bracket expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
• Seton Hall's 15 3-pointers against Temple were not only a school record but an East Regional record.
• In its loss to Seton Hall, Temple was outrebounded (40-35) for the first time since Feb. 17.
• Oklahoma State is 11-4 all-time when it is the higher seeded.