There appeared to be five No.1 seeds in this NCAA tournament field, but only four regions.

So the West Region got two of them -- Connecticut and Memphis. Basically, they're No.1 and No.1A. Technically, UConn is No.1 and Memphis No.2.

And that is quite likely the lineup for your West Regional final March 28 in Glendale, Ariz. Inside a sparkling domed stadium in the desert, they can decide who's really No.1 in proper fashion -- on the court.

Clearly the class of the region, UConn (27-4) and Memphis (31-3) present a striking contrast.

In the Big East, UConn seemingly faced ranked teams once or twice a week. Their last game? You might have heard of that one: a six-overtime 127-117 Big East tournament loss to Syracuse.

By the way, there are currently six top 25 teams from the Big East.

Memphis, on the other hand, regularly disputes the notion that there are a few high school leagues tougher than Conference USA. The Tigers went undefeated in their league and won their last two C-USA tournament games by 25 and 25. Its opponent in the final, Tulsa, might have needed six overtimes to score, say, 60 points.

By the way, there is currently one ranked team in C-USA.

UConn has won two national titles, in 1999 and 2004, both under current coach Jim Calhoun -- and both, by the way, playing out of the West Regional. Memphis has no national titles.

But what have they done in the NCAAs lately?

UConn was a first-round loser to not-so-mighty San Diego last year and failed to make the tournament in 2007. Memphis was a turnover or a free throw away from a national championship last year, losing the final in overtime to Kansas, and was in the elite eight the year before that.

Though the likelihood is that UConn and Memphis will eventually play each other, there is certainly no guarantee.

Seeds 3-5 -- Missouri, Washington and Purdue -- have the stuff to produce a tournament run.

The tournament could do a lot worse than a Sweet 16 matchup of Huskies -- UConn vs. Washington -- that would feature two high-scoring teams and a showdown in the paint between UConn's 7-3 center Hasheem Thabeet and Washington's bruising rebounding machine Jon Brockman. Plus, just for fun, throw in one of the most exciting additions to college basketball this year: 5-8 Washington freshman guard Isaiah Thomas, basically the second coming of Nate Robinson.

First things first, however. Washington, the No.4 seed and the Pac-10 regular-season champion, must survive one of the toughest first-round opponents for a top-four seed in recent years: unusually qualified No.13 seed Mississippi State, coming off an SEC tournament title. A No.13 seems to always win one. This one could be it.

Looking in the first round for a dogfight between two battle-tested teams and two coaches who have been around the block? Tough to beat No.7 seed California (and coach Mike Montgomery) vs. No.10 seed Maryland (and coach Gary Williams).

A beauty of a second-round matchup could be high-octane Missouri (81.1 points a game) against another team eager to run -- Marquette (78.8).

The winner of that one would be in line to test Memphis, and don't expect the Tigers to win that one by 25 points.

But do expect them to win, and to produce a regional final of No.1 vs. No.1A.