Arizona kept in West but as a No. 3.

Byline: From Register-Guard and news service reports

Arizona wondered about its seeding, especially in relation to what Oregon got from the NCAA selection committee.

Stanford and UCLA are looking at playing top seeds in their regions, if they win difficult first-round games. California may be playing Pittsburgh in that Pennsylvania city - if the Bears beat another team from that state - and USC sees Duke not far away in its bracket.

It wasn't then, a great day for the Pac-10 when the NCAA announced its bracket Sunday for this year's tournament, though the league did receive an unprecedented six berths.

Both Arizona and USC also play close to home, the Wildcats at Albuquerque and the Trojans in Sacramento, Calif.

``I like where we're placed - close to home,'' USC senior David Bluthenthal said. ``We should have a good fan base. I just don't see how the South Regional is in Sacramento.''

USC benefited from a rule change allowing the selection committee freedom in placing teams closer to home for the first and second rounds. So while they're seeded fourth in the South Regional, the Trojans open play Thursday in Sacramento against North Carolina-Wilmington.

``My whole thing is West Coast, one hour away, no time change,'' USC coach Henry Bibby said of the possibility of playing two games less than 400 miles away, assuming the Trojans beat the 13th-seeded Seahawks. ``I like that.''

Arizona draws UC Santa Barbara for its first-round opponent, but UA coach Lute Olson questioned why the Wildcats, who won the Pac-10 tournament, were a No. 3 seed in the West while Oregon, the league's regular-season champion, was a second seed in the Midwest.

`I thought that was based on them beating us twice,' Olson said. `We lost to them in Oregon in December and when we played them (in Tucson), we were without Luke Walton, and we are a totally different team without Luke.

`The fact that our schedule was so much tougher than Oregon's, I was a little bit surprised by (the seeding decision). On the other hand, the (selection) committee placed more value on winning the conference championship than the tournament championship, and they were consistent on that throughout the country.'

Olson also doesn't like the looks of the West. Along with Arizona, the region includes conference tournament winners Oklahoma of the Big 12 and Ohio State of the Big Ten, seeded second and fourth, respectively, along with Conference USA champion Cincinnati as the No. 1 seed.

`It's loaded ... but I'm sure if we were in a different region, we would be looking at it and saying how tough it is,' Olson said. `The good news is that we are staying in the West. The bad news is that the West is probably, far and away, the toughest region of the four.'

Of more immediate concern to the 'Cats might be a disgruntled Gonzaga team looming as Arizona's second opponent after the Bulldogs were given a No. 6 seed in the West, `the toughest sixth seed ... I think Gonzaga is definitely that,' Olson said.

Of the six Pac-10 teams, USC drew the most unknown opponent in North Carolina-Wilmington, champions of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Bibby said he didn't know a thing about USC's opening foe, but added, ``By 10 o'clock tonight, I'll know everything about them.

``My concern is USC,'' Bibby said. ``Are we ready to play? That's my concern, not what this team brings to the table. I don't know how they're going to be better than Stanford, Oregon, Arizona, people like that.''

Bibby didn't want to talk about the possibility of a rematch with Duke, which beat the Trojans last year in a regional final. The two could meet in a regional semifinal this year.

``It's not realistic at this time,'' Bibby said. ``Wilmington is the first one. I say all the time, the game in front of us is the one we're concerned about.''

Sophomore forward Jerry Dupree, who blossomed during the Pac-10 tournament, said he believes the Trojans are better than last year and match up well with Duke.

``I feel we can go out and beat them,'' he said. ``The way we're playing right now, we can beat anyone in the country.''

Cal was also placed in the South, as a No. 6 seed, but the Golden Bears will open tournament play in Pittsburgh against Ivy League champion Penn. If Cal wins that game, the Bears would play Pittsburgh, though the NCAA games are not played at the home site of the Panthers.

UCLA and Stanford were both seeded No. 8 in their respective regionals, a definite drop from recent years.

UCLA's seed is its lowest in the NCAA Tournament since 1993, but Bruins coach Steve Lavin expressed satisfaction at merely being part of the 65-team field.

``There's a lot of people that don't even have a chance to be in the tournament,'' Lavin said. ``You look at Syracuse or an Iowa, Minnesota, Temple, Purdue or North Carolina and they'd love to be in our position and even have a chance to be in the NCAA Tournament. We get 40 minutes Friday night to try to advance or its an early spring.''

The Bruins will play ninth-seeded Mississippi in Pittsburgh, though the game is in the West Regional. The UCLA-Mississippi winner will probably face No. 1 seed Cincinnati.

``Traveling is a challenge,'' Lavin said. ``A tough first-round matchup, if you were to get past that, a tougher second-round matchup is very challenging.'

After being a region's top seed the past two years, Stanford is looking at a game against No. 1 seed Kansas in the Midwest, if the Cardinal gets past Western Kentucky in a game in St. Louis.

`It's ironic after being a No. 1 seed two years in a row, I've always been scared of (playing the winner of) eight-nine because it's two good teams,' Stanford's Casey Jacobsen said.

`We got what we deserved. We've got a tough draw,' Stanford's Curtis Borchardt said.

CAPTION(S):

Lee Fowler, chairman of the panel that selected teams and made the pairings for NCAA tourney, explains decisions that kept more teams playing close to home this year. Associated Press