Editor's note: Teams preceded by their conference name are expected to win their league's automatic bid.

March 23, 2003/Raleigh, N.C.
(1) Duke vs. (16) NORTHEAST/St. Francis (Pa.)
(8) Auburn vs. (9) Notre Dame
March 23, 2003/Norman, Okla.
(5) Louisiana Tech vs. (12) Creighton
(4) Oklahoma vs. (13) WCC/Pepperdine
March 22, 2002/Athens, Ga.
(3) Arkansas vs. (14) MID-CONTINENT/Western Illinois
(6) DePaul vs. (11) Utah
March 22, 2003/Norfolk, Va.
(7) Texas vs. (10) Vanderbilt
(2) North Carolina vs. (15) BIG SOUTH/Liberty

Team	Thumbs Up	Thumbs Down
1. Duke	3-0 vs. RPI Top 25	21st in strength of schedule
2. North Carolina	7-0 vs. RPI Top 50	Loss to RPI No. 9 OU
3. Arkansas	Three wins vs. Top 25 RPI	One loss to sub-100 RPI team
4. Oklahoma	No. 2 strength of schedule	Five overall losses
5. Louisiana Tech	10-0 in last 10 games	One loss to sub-100 RPI team
6. DePaul	37th in SOS	1-3 vs. RPI Top 50
7. Texas	Win over Tennessee	Next three games vs. RPI Top 10
8. Auburn	Two RPI Top-50 wins	85th in strength of schedule
9. Notre Dame	6-1 road record	No wins vs. RPI Top 50
10. Vanderbilt	39th in strength of schedule	No wins vs. RPI Top 50
11. Utah	4-3 vs. RPI Top 100	81st in strength of schedule
12. Creighton	No. 40 ranking in RPI	One loss to sub-100 RPI team
Note: Teams expected to be invited solely by virtue of their conference's automatic bid are not included in this analysis.

Charlie Creme was a writer and editor at Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook for 11 years. Click here to send him a question about his bracket projections.