The best single-tourney performance came back in the first year of the expanded bracket. Not only did top-seeded Big East members Georgetown and St. John's both reach the Final Four, they were joined by a third Big East school -- Villanova -- which went home with the trophy as a No. 8 seed.

The tournament committee is generally criticized for loading the top of the bracket like this, but the record suggests there is a method to the madness. Last season's Big Ten partners Michigan State and Illinois advanced to the Final Four and Elite Eight, respectively. It was a similar outcome in 1998, with UNC reaching the Final Four and Duke advancing to the Elite Eight, and 1993, when Michigan made it to the Final Four and Indiana reached the Elite Eight.

The only clunker came two years ago, when the Pac-10 went belly-up in the second round. Top seeds Arizona and Stanford were shocked by No. 8 seeds Wisconsin and North Carolina. Ironically, both of those "crazy eights" made it to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

What does all of this mean for the 2002 tourney? Possibly nothing in terms of NCAA performance, but a whole lot with regard to conference distribution at the top of the field. This is shaping up as a season in which we could easily see multiple No. 1 seeds from the same conference. This week the Big 12 projects that way; last week, it was the ACC (Duke, Maryland).

Why did the Terps fall out of a No. 1 spot? The truth is they didn't drop as much as Oklahoma passed them. If you remember our discussion from last week, the Sooners and Terps (along with Cincinnati) were competing for the final No. 1 seed. Maryland got the edge at that time, but Oklahoma's profile -- particularly in the area of Quality Wins -- has improved since then.

We'll see this kind of "bracket checkers" over and over between now and Selection Sunday.

Joe Lunardi is the resident "bracketologist" for ESPN.com. He can be reached at jlunardi@home.com.