Two-round Knockout

Is your NCAA bracket suddenly as worthless as an Enron pension? Do you have no market for your GO STANFORD! or 'CATS ROCK! bumper stickers? Sure, No. 1 seeds Duke and St. Joe's and a pair of 2s, Connecticut and Oklahoma State, are still in glace, but who invited No. 9 Alabama-Birmingham and No. 10 Nevada to St. Louis? � To help sort out this confounding first week of the NCAA tournament SI embedded writers with various teams and players. What follows are behind-the-scenes takes on how St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli prepared for battle with Bob Knight, why the state of Alabama suddenly turned into hoops heaven, how a gutty three-point bomber kept defending champ Syracuse on track and why explosive young point guards are driving the national title bids of Wake Forest and Georgia Tech.

Finally, senior writer Grant Wahl rethinks his Final Four—and he loves Vanderbilt over UConn in the Sweet 16. (Just wanted to see if you were paying attention.)