CNNSI.com's NCAA Bubble Watch

One last bracket projection for Selection Sunday

Rylan Hainje and Butler are rooting for Ohio State in today's Big Ten title game. AP

By Stewart Mandel, CNNSI.com

When the 2002 NCAA tournament bracket is unveiled today at 6 p.m. EST, the pertinent questions might not involve who got in and who did not. (The only real mystery at this point involves the controversial Butler.)

More like, "What is this thing?"

This year's tourney marks the NCAA's first attempt at implementing reforms announced last fall intended to keep more teams closer to home in the opening rounds.

No longer will the East or Midwest's 16 teams be limited to two sites. Oh no. This year's festivities could include teams from one region heading to as many as four different first- and second-round sites.

For instance, say likely Midwest No. 1 seed Kansas is placed in St. Louis on opening weekend. The Jayhawks' first opponent, a No. 16 seed, accompanies them, as do the No. 8 and 9 seeds, from which KU's second-round opponent is determined.

But whereas in previous years, the No. 4, 5, 12 and 13 seeds - the teams next-nearest to Kansas looking at a bracket -- would always play at that site, if No. 4 happens to be Georgia and No. 13 NC-Wilmington, the committee may see fit to send these teams to Greenville, S.C. -- technically not a "Midwest" locale.

In our final projected bracket of the year -- updated following Sunday's four remaining championship games -- we attempt to match teams to locations using the new criteria. Since this has never been done before for real, we make no guarantees of accuracy like we do for the seeds, which for the majority of teams should fall within one spot of where they officially land.

An abbreviated guide to the bracket follows.

Seeding the 65
Site	East	Site	Midwest
Greenville, S.C.:	1. Duke*	St. Louis:	1. Kansas
	16. Murray St.*		16. Winthrop*/Siena*
	8. Notre Dame		8. W. Kentucky*
	9. Missouri		9. Utah
St. Louis:	4. Mississippi St.*	Pittsburgh:	4. Kentucky
	13. C. Connecticut*		13. UC Santa Barbara*
	5. Indiana		5. Ohio State*
	12. Wyoming		12. Kent State*
Chicago:	3. Marquette	Wash. D.C.:	3. Pittsburgh
	14. Valparaiso*		14. Hampton*
	6. Oklahoma St.		6. Wake Forest
	11. Creighton*		11. Tulsa
Pittsburgh:	2. UConn*	Albuquerque:	2. Arizona*
	15. Boston*		15. Holy Cross*
	7. UCLA		7. Texas
	10. Pepperdine		10. Ole Miss
Site	South	Site	West
Wash. D.C.:	1. Maryland	Dallas:	1. Oklahoma*
	16. Alcorn St*.		16. Montana*
	8. Cal		8. Stanford
	9. Hawaii*		9. Michigan St.
Albuquerque:	4. Illinois	Greenville, S.C.:	4. Georgia
	13. Penn*		13. NC Wilmington*
	5. Florida		5. Miami
	12. S. Illinois		12. Butler
Sacramento:	3. Gonzaga*	Sacramento:	3. Oregon
	14. Davidson*		14. McNeese St.*
	6. USC		6. Xavier*
	11. San Diego St.*		11. St. John's
Dallas:	2. Alabama	Chicago:	2. Cincinnati*
	15. Fla. Atlantic*		15. Illinois-Chi.*
	7. Texas Tech		7. N.C. State**
	10. Boston College		10. Wisconsin
* -- automatic bid

Notes on the bracket