Duke Fit to Be King? Maybe Not

Welcome to the 1999 NCAA tournament’s field of 64.

Also known as Duke and 63 Other Teams Nobody Thinks Can Win.

Never mind that the last time a team went into the tournament as dominant a favorite as Duke is, it was Nevada Las Vegas in 1991--and the undefeated Rebels were upset in the Final Four by the Blue Devils, of all people.

Never mind that over the last 15 years, the only teams ranked No. 1 at the end of the season that have gone on to win were Duke in 1992 and UCLA in 1995.

Nobody thinks Duke can lose, but 63 teams are in line to try their chances.

Duke (32-1) earned the No. 1 seeding in the East it coveted so the Blue Devils could start their run close to home in Charlotte.

First up Friday are the Florida A&M; Rattlers, at 12-18 the only team with a losing record in the tournament after winning the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament.

“No matter what happens in March, no one can take away that we’re attempting to win a national championship,” Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “That shouldn’t be pressure. That should be exciting. If we don’t win a national championship, it will be because someone beat us. Not because of pressure.”

Connecticut (28-2) was shipped West as a No. 1, hoping to make the Final Four for the first time. The formerly top-ranked and newly resurgent Huskies will play in Denver on Thursday against Texas-San Antonio.

Michigan State (29-4) is top-seeded in the Midwest and opens Friday against Mount St. Mary’s in Milwaukee. (You know what they say, Coach Jim Phelan, No. 801 is always the hardest.)

And upstart Auburn (27-3) is No. 1 in the South despite a loss to defending NCAA champion Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament semifinals, after Maryland and Stanford--teams with a chance to unseat Auburn--also lost their final games. The Tigers open Thursday in Indianapolis against Winthrop.

UCLA is headed South as a No. 5-seeded team and will face defense-minded Detroit Mercy in the first round at Indianapolis on Thursday.

Stanford stays in the West, but at an awful cost: Connecticut is Stanford’s worst mismatch. The No. 2-seeded Cardinal lost to Connecticut by 20 points last season and by 11 this season at Maples Pavilion in a game the Huskies’ Richard Hamilton didn’t play. The Cardinal’s bid to reprise last season’s run to the Final Four starts Thursday in Seattle against Alcorn State.

Utah, another of last season’s Final Four teams, earned a No. 2 seeding with its unbeaten streak, but might have to face old nemesis Kentucky, the defending national champions, in the Sweet 16.

“Utah kept it going, 22, 23, 21 wins in a row?” said C.M. Newton, chairman of the NCAA selection committee and the athletic director at Kentucky who announced the selections Sunday in Kansas City. “I’m not sure, but they won a lot of games.

This is a tournament that requires a few double takes.

There’s Miami of Florida and Miami of Ohio.

There are the No. 1-seeded Connecticut men and No. 1-seeded Connecticut women, on the same side now as the men try for their first Final Four and the women hope for another.

There are five first-timers: Samford, Winthrop, Arkansas State, Kent and Florida A&M.;

And there are more than a few mighty mites, like 5-foot-4 Shawnta Rogers of George Washington and 5-6 Chico Fletcher of Arkansas State.

The Big Ten led the way with seven teams--and would have had a record eight if Illinois had upset Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament final.

The Atlantic Coast Conference?

At the conference tournament this week, the joke was the AC3.

Duke, Maryland and North Carolina, with Wake Forest and N.C. State left out.

“That is a shock to, I think, everyone,” Newton said. “They had to play their way in, and the fact is they did not do that.”

Four teams from the Pacific-10 got in, including borderline Washington with only 17 victories, ready to try to repeat its run to the Sweet 16, beginning with Miami of Ohio on Friday in New Orleans.

Arizona became a No. 4-seeded team in the Midwest, and opens against Oklahoma--unofficially the last at-large team to make it--in Milwaukee on Friday.

Who was snubbed?

California. The National Invitation Tournament was calling after Cal burst its bubble with a loss to Oregon in the final game after an erratic season in which Cal beat North Carolina, UCLA and Arizona.

Look at DePaul--and quickly, because you might not catch freshman Quentin Richardson before he heads for the NBA. Remember Xavier for being a good team that didn’t take care of business.

There are more than a few familiar faces.

Hello, again, Jim Harrick and Rhode Island. What’s that March charm you have?

Rhody came thisclose to the Final Four last season before losing to Stanford, and made it back to the tournament only on Lamar Odom’s long-range three-point basket at the buzzer in the Atlantic 10 tournament final.

Hello, Wally World. (That’s a nod to future NBA lottery pick Wally Szczerbiak from Miami of Ohio).

Here comes Mr. Michael Jordan. Of Pennsylvania, that is.

March is here, and time marches on.

College of Charleston Coach John Kresse’s mother died Tuesday at 80 after a battle with liver cancer.

Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun’s first grandchild, Emily, was born on Friday. He’ll be trying to add another family first: A Final Four.

Krzyzewski is trying for a third national title, but win or lose, he’ll have hip replacement surgery right after the tournament.

There’ll be winners and losers. You just have to wait to see who.

“Years ago, we were a three seed and we got beat in the first round, so I remember the feeling,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “I think you need to go in with the understanding that it’s loser out.”

Sometimes the “loser” doesn’t lose. When the College of Charleston upset North Carolina earlier this season, school president Judge Alex Sanders appropriated a quote from Winston Churchill and called it Charleston’s “finest hour.”

What if Charleston should do it again, and reach the Sweet 16 by beating Duke?

“I guess I’d have to steal another quote.”

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Track the tournament with updated brackets, and compete for a $1 million prize in the ‘It’s Madness Challenge’ on The Times’ Web site, at: http://ukobiw.net./brackets