Round One goes March 17th & 18th. Check out this incredible promo for Round One! Everybody wins!

AP - As expected, Illinois, once-beaten and top-ranked in the polls, was given the No. 1 overall seed when the NCAA Selction Commitee made its final calls last Sunday.

The rest wasn't so cut and dried: Less than an hour before announcing the brackets on American television, the 10 committee members were still debating in an Indianapolis hotel suite. Two of the four No. 1 seeds were still undecided.

It wasn't until the last two conference tournament games ended, about 45 minutes before the selections went public, that the committee finally gave the top seeds to the Illini, North Carolina, Duke and Washington - the surprise of the group.

Had Kentucky beaten Florida for its third straight Southeastern Conference title, it would have been a No. 1 seed. The Wildcats lost - and were dropped to a No. 2.

Had Duke lost to Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, Wake Forest could have sneaked in as a No. 1. The Yellow Jackets made it interesting, but that one wasn't to be, either.

The Selection Committee eventually picked Washington, the Pac-10 champ, as a No. 1 seed.

"I'm not going to lie and say I thought we were going to get a No. 1 seed," Huskies forward Bobby Jones said. "But then I woke up today, and I started watching the shows. "People were saying we could get it. I started believing them."

The Huskies (27-5) joined some elite company. Big Ten champion Illinois (32-1) was assigned to the Chicago regional. North Carolina (27-4), the ACC regular-season champ, will be at Syracuse, Duke (25-5) will be in Austin and Washington will go to Albuquerque.

It's the sixth time in eight years two teams from the same conference were seeded No. 1. The last time was 2003, when Oklahoma and Texas of the Big 12 were No. 1 seeds.

No conference has ever had three No. 1 seeds.

Duke opens against Delaware State, while the Tar Heels face the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Oakland and Alabama A&M.

Wake Forest (26-5) drew the second seed in the Albuquerque region and will open against Chattanooga (20-10), the Southern Conference champion, in Cleveland.

All the action is awaiting your picks. Round One lines are up - get your wagers in now!

On Thursday night, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant will face each other for the second time since "the divorce" (or the third time, counting the All-Star Game).

I don't know why it makes a good story (perhaps you disagree!) but it's a story. Their history is like on of best friends fighting over the same girl. They played together for 6 years. In that time, they won many a contest and even the NBA Championship. But, it was soon realized that the little podunk town of LA wasn't big enough for the both of them. The fame and attention both sought became a bigger than life struggle that was indeed, bigger than the both of them.

The angle: a severed friendship. "It'll be better than 'Tilt,'" a producer will scream to an announcer, an editor to a reporter. A real-life soap opera. Too bad Mark Burnett didn't think of it first.

When all is said and done, it'll just be a great game between two teams that happen to feature a superstar each, not to mention and incredible all star supporting cast. We're picking Miami to emerge victorious. Who do you have?

NBA Top 5 Power Rankings by ESPN's Marc Stein - Week 19

Impressive as it was to see Suns recover from the Houston loss by winning at Denver, Nash's quote after that Rockets defeat is worrisome: 'I'm not helping us very much on one leg.'

How hot are Heat? Try this hot: Miami hasn't lost a game in regulation since Feb. 1. Heat's only two losses in the past 17 games came in overtime -- and both without Shaq.

Common sense says they'll be back at No. 1 before long and enter the playoffs as the title favorite. But for now, until Duncan and Ginobili are healthy, Spurs can't go higher than this.

Winning at MSG salvaged something from what had to be Sonics' worst week of the season. Holding a 10 1/2-game division lead over Denver doesn't hurt, either.

Pistons can't catch Miami, and chances are no one can catch Pistons and bump them out of the No. 2 spot. So it's as good a time as there is for Larry to take time off to get healthy.

Are you going to be in the Vancouver area on April 4th? If so, come on down to "relish - The Restaurant & Lounge" for a great March Madness Finals Party!

Watch the NCAA FINALS on the big screens at RELISH THE RESTAURANT & LOUNGE with betED SPORTSBOOK. Appetizer specials, $3.50 big pints, giveaways all night (including gallons of free BEER!) and no cover.

Come on down and rock the NCAA FINALS with the betED girls who will be there in full force for photo ops and general tomfoolery!

Check out the Clubhouse in upcoming weeks for pictures from the event if you can't make it down!

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Q: Who broke UCLA's streak of seven consecutive National Championships in 1974?

A. North Carolina St
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D. Purdue

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