What's the bracket arithmetic this year?

A total of 31 conferences will place an automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament field. As the tourney also requires no fewer than 34 at-large selections, there will once again be a "play-in" game between the teams rated No. 64 and No. 65 in the field. That contest will be held March 15 in Dayton, Ohio, with the winner advancing into the main bracket as a No. 16 seed.

Why is that team listed from such-and-such conference?

Teams preceded by their conference name in ALL CAPS are the current league or RPI leaders (for the preseason bracket, the consensus postseason champion is listed). Teams from multiple-bid conferences, or who project to earn an at-large bid regardless of their league position, are listed without such a prefix.

What is the RPI, anyway? And why do they use it?

RPI stands for Ratings Percentage Index, a tool of the NCAA in assembling championship fields in a host of sports. The RPI essentially combines winning percentage and schedule strength into a single formula to help compare teams from different conferences and regions. It has been used as an aid to the NCAA men's basketball committee since 1981. The formula is expected to change a bit this season to place a greater emphasis on road victories.

Who can't go where?

DePaul (Chicago), New Mexico (Albuquerque), Texas (Austin) and Syracuse cannot be placed in their respective regions if they are selected and/or qualify for the 2005 NCAA field. Each school is hosting a regional final this year. Boise State, Cleveland State, Butler (Indianapolis), Arizona (Tucson), Davidson (Charlotte) and Holy Cross (Worcester) are sub-regional hosts and would also be bracketed away from their respective sites.

Are teams allegedly playing closer to home again this year?

For the fourth time, the NCAA men's basketball committee will not pre-determine the regional designation of each of the eight sub-regional sites. This gives the committee increased flexibility to reduce travel for teams and fans, as well as create more local interest at sub-regional sites that may be non-traditional basketball areas. For example, the sub-regional site in Boise could send its winners to Syracuse (instead of, say, Albuquerque) if the committee thinks that makes more geographic sense to the teams involved.

Aren't there a ton of other bracketing rules to consider?

Yes, and if you have three or four hours and some spare brain cells available, you can read them all in the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship handbook. Otherwise, you'll just have to trust me.

Didn't they re-seed the field last year? And won't that mess up my office pool? Clearly the most important questions of any season. The answers are "not really" and "definitely not." In a new procedure begun last March, the tournament committee makes public its internal ranking of the four No. 1 seeds and their respective regions are then paired according to those rankings (No. 1 vs. No. 4; No. 2 vs. No. 3). No longer will the regions be paired in a rotating fashion (e.g, East vs. West, Southeast vs. Midwest) for the national semifinals. Last year, that worked out to be Kentucky (No. 1, St. Louis) vs. Saint Joseph's (No. 4, East Rutherford) and Duke (No. 2, Atlanta) vs. Stanford (No. 3, Phoenix). The idea is to prevent a match up of the nation's two best teams prior to the national championship game. Fortunately, since these determinations are made on Selection Sunday, the bracket-and thus every "amusement only" contest in the land-are unaffected once the 65-team field is announced.