Dreams and nightmares for 64 teams

Best Case: John Wall cannot be kept out of the lane without barbed wire and machetes. DeMarcus Cousins continues to go Moses Malone on everyone, grabbing offensive rebounds as if he has six hands. The Wildcats make just enough outside shots to keep defenses honest. And Patrick Patterson, good soldier in bad times and good teammate in a supporting-actor role this season, makes the game-winning hoop against Kansas in the national title game. With his 10th team seeded third or better and his fourth No. 1 seed, John Calipari finally gets his title. Kentucky fans weep in the streets after an interminable 12 years without hardware. Patterson returns for a fourth year, Eric Bledsoe returns for a second and Ashley Judd buys 2010-11 season tickets. And Rick Pitino is ejected as Louisville gets blitzed in the first round.

Worst Case: Playing West Virginia -- their first truly big-time opponent of the season -- the untested Wildcats cannot handle the heat. Wall shoots bricks -- and has plenty of company. Cousins and Bledsoe get technicals for throwing elbows. Calipari throws fits and forgets to use late timeouts. Players storm off the bench when they get yelled at. The Mountaineers extend Kentucky's longest streak without a Final Four to 12 years. Big Blue Nation suffers a communal nervous breakdown. Fans bury their heads in snow banks outside the Carrier Dome. Wall, Cousins, Patterson and Bledsoe all go pro. Pitino upsets Duke on the way to a stunning Final Four. Calipari leaves for the Nets, narrowly escaping the mob that comes to burn down his house.

Best Case: The malaise melts away, and the Longhorns rediscover the team that once was 17-0 and ranked No. 1 in the country. They are a cohesive working unit again -- big, athletic, blessed with shooters and bangers and drivers and defenders. Rick Barnes pushes all the right buttons. J'Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton adhere to the offensive game plan. Damion James raises his game to lottery level. Avery Bradley makes big shots, and Dexter Pittman makes big blocks, standing tall against DeMarcus Cousins. There is even a Gary Johnson sighting. The Horns upset Kentucky and make it to the regional final before losing to West Virginia. Meanwhile, Texas A&M loses its opener to Utah State.

Worst Case: Dead team walking has no chance of rediscovering its early-season excellence. Texas mails in one more disjointed performance, losing to fellow underachiever Wake Forest in the first round, as Hamilton and Brown combine to go 3-for-26 from the field. Barnes' one Final Four trip, now seven years old, looks more and more like a radar blip than a program indicator. Everyone goes pro, and Texas A&M makes the Final Four.

Best Case: Saddled with an undeserved No. 5 seed, the 29-win Owls play like the 2/3-seed they should have been. Fran Dunphy shows why he should get more love for his sideline work. The balanced team plays unrelenting defense, and runs poised offense to beat Cornell and Wisconsin. Then, orchestrating a tempo that has helped hold 11 straight opponents to fewer than 60 points in regulation, Temple stuns top-seed Kentucky in the Sweet 16. (Ancient fans celebrate payback for the last-second loss to the Wildcats in the 1958 Final Four.) By the time the Owls arrive where John Chaney could never take them -- the Final Four -- Dunphy's pushbroom mustache has become a national fad.

Worst Case: The Owls draw another underseeded team in cagey Cornell. Lavoy Allen gets in foul trouble, and Temple cannot handle Big Red big man Jeff Foote and is eliminated in its first game. Dunphy, whose NCAA tourney record drops to 1-12, gets grief about his outdated pushbroom mustache.

Best Case: With Bo Ryan smirking on the sidelines, the resolute Badgers anesthetize Wofford and Temple to reach the Sweet Sixteen. This classic Ryan team -- a bunch of juniors and seniors running around setting screens and boxing out and never committing turnovers -- wins two games in methodical fashion. The world is torn between hating the pace and loving the fundamentals. Kentucky coach John Calipari cannot convince his future NBA stars that they should take a bunch of schmoes from curling country seriously, and Wisconsin pushes the Wildcats until John Wall makes a game-winning jumper. Everyone vows not to underestimate Ryan's teams again -- until everyone forgets again next October and picks the Badgers sixth in the Big Ten. Marquette loses by 30 to Washington in the first round.

Worst Case: Cornell wipes the permasmirk right off Ryan's face in the second round, beating the Badgers at their own game. Screens and box-outs and clean ballhandling go only so far for a team that struggles to score, so the same group that put 20 on the board in the first half against Illinois in the Big Ten tournament goes for a whopping 16 against the Big Red. Eyes bleeding, fans everywhere swear off watching the Badgers for the next 10 years. Insisting that he is the guardian of purist basketball, Ryan goes back to River Falls and Oshkosh to recruit more screeners. Meanwhile, Marquette makes the regional final.

Best Case: The lilliputian Golden Eagles take America's coolest uniforms to the Elite Eight. Marquette fans shave their heads to be like coach Buzz Williams. Lazar Hayward tells the world, "Hi, I'm criminally underrated," averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds over three games as "Cardiac 'Quette" beats Washington, New Mexico and West Virginia by a combined five points -- running its season record to 11-8 in games decided by five points or fewer. Nervous system taxed all season, many Eagles fans finally snap when Maurice Acker, David Cubillan and Hayward take turns winning games on last-second shots. Babies are born prematurely, blood-pressure medicine sales rise and drinking spikes. (Which is saying something at Marquette.) The big shot goes the other way in the regional final against Kentucky, when John Wall sinks one at the buzzer, but the Eagles make it two rounds farther than Wisconsin.

Worst Case: Williams, excitable to the point of instability on the sidelines, does a headfirst Pete Rose slide and worm dance at midcourt after Hayward hits the go-ahead basket in the final seconds against Washington in the first round. Only problem: Time remains on the clock, and Williams is T'd up. The Huskies make the free throws and win the game, and Williams goes off on radio analyst Jim McIlvaine postgame. (Which he did after a Marquette win earlier this season, although he later apologized.) Wisconsin advances to the Sweet Sixteen.

Best Case: America gets a brisk introduction to Darington Hobson, quite possibly the best anonymous player in the tournament. His Evan Turner-Lite season stats (16.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists per game) only increase as the Lobos click off victories over Montana and Marquette. Then Roman Martinez shoots it like his coach (Steve Alford) did in 1987 to carry New Mexico past West Virginia and into the school's first regional final. Alford blows a kiss Indiana's way and asks how the Hoosiers are getting along without him. The Lobos lose in the regional final to Kentucky but acquit themselves well. Alford is offered a 100-year contract extension and a personal stylist willing to help explore the possibility of parting his hair anywhere but dead center for the past 30 years.

Worst Case: Hobson is outshined by Montana revelation Anthony Johnson, and a Lobos team that didn't dominate many opponents in the latter stages of the season is ousted in a shocking first-round upset. Having given up 72 or more points in all four defeats this season, they do it once more against the Grizzlies. Alford gets the itch to return to the Midwest. Hobson goes pro after one year in a New Mexico uniform. New Mexico State advances farther. And don't even ask about Mike Locksley and the football program.

Best Case: Oliver Purnell gets off the NCAA schneid after five career losses at three schools, thanks to Trevor Booker terrorizing undermanned Missouri in the paint. Not done there, Clemson's pressure defense gets to West Virginia's suspect ball handlers. The Tigers are embraced by orange-loving fans in Syracuse, where they beat New Mexico in the Sweet Sixteen on a Tanner Smith 3. They're finally broomed out by Kentucky in the regional final, but not before showing the football team what it's like to actually overachieve.

Worst Case: Purnell stays on the schneid as his team blows a 15-point second-half lead to Missouri. In a collapse unsuitable for the eyes of children, Clemson misses eight of 11 free throws and turns the ball over four times in the final four minutes. Purnell himself covers his face with his orange suit coat near the end. Clemson football fans say, yes, this does look familiar. Meanwhile, South Carolina coach Darrin Horn gets another five-star commitment.

Best Case: Dressed like he's playing in a Monday night bowling league, Bob Huggins drops the tough-guy exterior and bawls after snipping the last strands of Lucas Oil Stadium net on the night of April 5. Eighteen years after his last visit and 51 years after the Mountaineers were last in the Final Four, West Virginia wins it all for the first time. Da'Sean Butler is the most outstanding player after beating Kansas with a double-pump jumper while being knocked to the floor at the final horn. Coal mines shut down for a day, and the hardscrabble hills echo with celebratory yodeling. And Devin Ebanks says he's coming back for his junior year.

Worst Case: With the Mountaineers locked in a close second-round game against Clemson, a controversial call goes against them late. Always restrained, West Virginia fans respond by throwing coins, whiskey flasks and small auto parts at the officials. Huggins rages like King Lear on the sideline. After five separate technical fouls, the Mountaineers lose by two. Huggins' number of NCAA losses as the higher seed climbs to 12. The Mountaineers' mascot is arrested in Buffalo for buying live rounds of ammunition for her rifle and going to the officials' hotel.

Best Case: The best case is the most likely case -- Jayhawks storm through the bracket to the title, riding the big-game savvy of Sherron Collins, interior dominance of Cole Aldrich and the Morris twins, the athleticism of Tyshawn Taylor and Xavier Henry, and some timely shots from Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed. Jayhawks take special joy in a turn-the-tables Sweet 16 elimination of Michigan State; a payback regional final win over Tennessee or Oklahoma State; a fourth victory over Kansas State in the Final Four; and, what the heck, how about a heartbreaking 3 in the final seconds against Kentucky and John Calipari (who has unused timeouts on the scoreboard)? Added bonuses: All potential early-entry pros come back, and Missouri gets waxed in the first round.

Worst Case: Before the team leaves for Oklahoma City, Taylor punches another football player and gets suspended. Once there, comp ticket listee Samantha Ryan conducts a "film session" in team hotel. And facing UNLV in the second round, Collins shoots 3-for-15. Aldrich fouls out. Morris twins disappear. Henry shies from contact. Former Kansas State player and coach Lon Kruger exacts stunning revenge for the 1988 Elite Eight defeat he took from the Jayhawks. Meanwhile, K-State and Missouri both reach the Final Four.

Best Case: Twenty years after their only national title, the Runnin' Rebels rekindle the Tarkanian glory days -- without players hanging out in a hot tub with Richard "The Fixer" Perry. They breeze past Northern Iowa, and Kruger concocts a masterful game plan to shock Kansas on a Tre'Von Willis 3-pointer at the buzzer. UNLV rides the momentum one more round, past Michigan State, before losing in the regional final to Ohio State.

Worst Case: Team that was 22-2 when scoring 70 or more points and just 3-6 when scoring fewer gets gummed up by methodical Northern Iowa in the first round, struggles to score 55 and is eliminated. Kruger gets antsy for a sixth college head-coaching gig and gets out of town. Bill Bayno says he's available for a comeback.

Best Case: Tom Izzo does what he does best, weaving March magic and making everyone forget the Spartans' uneven regular season. Chris Allen emerges from the Izzo kennel to hit key shots against New Mexico State and Maryland. In a Sweet 16 rematch from 2009, Kalin Lucas reprises his Kansas killer role and does in the Jayhawks with a late jumper. Izzo does the rest in the regional final, coming up with a way to stop Evan Turner and Michigan State reverses a February home loss to Ohio State to reach yet another Final Four. Even a Final Four loss to Syracuse is palatable at that point.

Worst Case: The unsteady team that last beat a good opponent at full strength in January is exposed by New Mexico State in the first round. Allen remains suspended, Delvon Roe remains gimpy on one knee, Durrell Summers remains sketchy defensively and the Spartans fail to rebound and guard like an Izzo tournament team. And the Final Four isn't scheduled to return to Detroit anytime soon.

Best Case: After romping past Houston and Michigan State, the Terrapins face Kansas in the Sweet 16. Jayhawks make the grievous error of guarding Greivis Vasquez as if he's just another player -- simply put, they don't have sufficient fear of the lead Turtle. Vasquez goes for 25 points and 10 assists to take out the No. 1 team. Then Gary Williams hunkers down in a Beltway Battle regional final against Georgetown and outcoaches John Thompson III to reach another Final Four, where the Terps lose a national final bloodbath with Kentucky. The eight years of fan complaints since Maryland's last trip to the Final Four vanish. Williams almost smiles while cutting down the regional nets. Off in Jacksonville, Duke has lost in the second round.

Worst Case: Sucked into a scoring duel with Houston gunner Aubrey Coleman, the excitable Vasquez goes crazy and shoots 6-for-32 from the field. Williams loses his mind and spends the entire game ripping everyone who comes through his field of vision -- all while sweating through his suit. He tells three players to transfer at halftime. Grumbling about Williams returns after upset loss to the Cougars. Duke wins it all.

Best Case: If you can beat Kansas and Kentucky, you surely can beat San Diego State, Georgetown and Ohio State, right? So Big Game Bruce Pearl's Volunteers do, reaching their first regional final in school history behind next-level performances from Scotty Hopson and Wayne Chism, and an unprecedented burst of heady play from J.P. Prince. But even a Tennessee team on the roll of a lifetime cannot beat Kansas twice, losing in the Elite Eight. Meanwhile, Kentucky and Vanderbilt lose early and Lane Kiffin wrecks another comp car in L.A.

Worst Case: Tennessee leaves its big-game mojo behind in Thompson-Boling Arena. Unimpressed by first-round opponent San Diego State because the Aztecs are never on TV, the Volunteers fail to prepare adequately. Shocked to be facing a quality team and playing like the poise-less bunch that was crushed by Kentucky in the SEC tournament, Tennessee buries itself under a pile of bad shots and is dismissed. Melvin Goins decides to go out with another groin shot to an opponent, and Prince commits seven turnovers. Kentucky wins it all, Vandy makes the Sweet 16 -- and Lane Kiffin is still the jilter, not the jiltee.

Best Case: Greg Monroe continues to play with the emotion, versatility and dominance he displayed in Madison Square Garden last week. Austin Freeman continues to hit big shots. Chris Wright plays like a heady, tough elite guard. And a team whose play has fluctuated between brilliant and bewildering evens out at a high level for a run all the way to the NCAA title game. After a close loss to Kentucky, Monroe shocks everyone by saying he's coming back next season to finish the job.

Worst Case: Playing with customary inconsistency, Hoyas fall behind Tennessee by 22 at halftime in the second round. Then they shoot 80 percent from the floor in the second half and storm back to tie. Wright loses track of the score and purposefully fouls Prince in the final 30 seconds -- and this time he cannot convert a driving shot to make up for it. Georgetown is bounced in the Round of 32. Monroe turns pro before exiting the postgame shower. Freeman and Wright follow suit.

Best Case: Blessed with the opportunity to pillage shaky guards, the Cowboys' pressure defense turns over Georgia Tech repeatedly in a Round 1 waltz. Then superb guard James Anderson takes over, outscoring Evan Turner in a marquee second-round matchup of future lottery picks. In the Sweet 16, Keiton Page pulls a Steph Curry and bombs Georgetown out of the tournament. Matt Pilgrim is good for one flat-out silly dunk in each game. Cowboys' roll finally ends in a regional-final rematch with Kansas when the tables are turned on the upset last month in Stillwater. T. Boone Pickens personally pulls out his checkbook to lock up hot coach Travis Ford for the foreseeable future.

Worst Case: Tech's guards hold up under pressure and get the ball to Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, who foul out Oklahoma State's undersized post players. Anderson shoots like the guy who has made only 11 of 39 3-point shots this month. Ford loses it and gets ejected, then leaves for another job -- and Bill Self still isn't interested in coming back to his alma mater. Every other Big 12 school advances to the second round, leaving the Cowboys with feelings of inadequacy. Anderson goes pro.

Best Case: Evan Turner continues the Dwyane Wade thing he has going on, bringing the Buckeyes back to Indianapolis three weeks after they won the Big Ten title there. Turner drops 30 points on Oklahoma State in the second round, a game-winning shot on Georgetown in the third and a triple-double on Kansas in the fourth. In the Final Four he gets help from David Lighty and Jon Diebler as the Buckeyes reach the title game before maxing out and losing to Kentucky. Turner defies all logic and comes back for his senior season, saying he wants to team with superstar recruit Jared Sullinger to win it all.

Worst Case: Turner can't carry a team on his previously injured back forever, especially one with no depth. Playing a short bench finally catches up with Ohio State, which gets into foul trouble against Oklahoma State and fails to adequately defend the 3-point line in a second-round upset. Turner turns pro. Oh, and Terrelle Pryor's knee-surgery recovery is slower than expected.

Best Case: The Blue Devils are back, ending a six-year absence from the Final Four and a nine-year drought without a national title. Aided by a gift-wrapped draw from the Iron Duke Club -- excuse me, the NCAA selection committee -- they breeze through the South Regional. Somehow, 100 percent of the block/charge calls go Duke's way across the span of six games. But mostly, the Devils get inspired play from Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer while winning two games against Texas schools in Houston. Duke then double-Plumlees DeMarcus Cousins in the Final Four, Mike Krzyzewski devises a defense to contain the point guard who spurned him (John Wall) and Kentucky implodes against the more experienced team. That gets Duke its date with Kansas in a rematch of the 1991 title game, and the Blue Devils again take down the Jayhawks to win their fourth title. In gratitude for K being K, the coach is handed a scepter in the postgame celebration and given the right to assign all ACC game officials for the rest of his career. North Carolina wins the NIT, which Duke fans find cute.

Worst Case: Rick Pitino guards the inbound pass this time. Rakeem Buckles deflects an intended three-quarter court pass to Singler for the potential winning shot at the buzzer. Louisville stuns Duke 103-102 in overtime on an Edgar Sosa banker. Krzyzewski says he loves his kids but adds that he didn't love the officiating, which whistled only 19 fouls on the Cardinals when Coach K clearly saw them commit 24. Singler and Smith both turn pro, and Carolina still has won two national titles since Duke's last one.

Best Case: Playing with fury for a scorned league, the Golden Bears come out flying. Jerome Randle is bombing from deep, Patrick Christopher is operating smoothly from the wings and Cal beats Louisville. Next, Duke transfer Jamal Boykin goes off on his old team for 20 points and 15 rebounds in leading a Cal upset of the Blue Devils. Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott rushes the floor and jumps on the Golden Bears' dogpile at midcourt. Cal doesn't stop until Baylor beats it in the regional final, its best showing in 50 years. And last anyone checked, Stanford still stunk.

Worst Case: Fury for a scorned league is nice, but what if the league deserved to be scorned? Beaten up inside by Louisville, Cal is quickly dismissed in the first round while Washington also is eliminated in its first game. The Pac-10 commissioner begs UCLA to get good again in a hurry. The Golden Bears complete a season of across-the-board underachievement in football and men's basketball.

Best Case: A sneaky good team that has flown under the radar in the Kansas-dominated Big 12 steps forward now. All nine of the Aggies' losses have come against NCAA tournament teams, but they won't lose another one until the Final Four. The Aggies get a breezy draw to the Sweet Sixteen, beating No. 12 and No. 13 seeds. Then, playing in nearby Houston, they give the Yell Leaders plenty to yell about by bouncing Duke and winning the rubber match with Baylor to reach the school's first Final Four. As an added bonus, Texas loses in the first round. Coach Mark Turgeon, rumored to be interested in Oregon, signs a new, long-term deal to stay in College Station. Just don't ask about football.

Worst Case: A bad-luck draw against massively underseeded Utah State bites the Aggies harder than Reveille. Texas A&M misses key free throws late and gives up the winning 3 at the buzzer, scuttling hopes of playing in front of a partisan crowd in the home state. Texas makes a run. And Turgeon's interest in Oregon turns out to be legitimate when he flees for Eugene.

Best Case: Totally chapped at being written off and underseeded after the Robbie Hummel injury, the Boilermakers bring a controlled rage to the court to take on Siena. With E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson reminding everyone that this never was a one-man team, Purdue spans Siena and beats down Texas A&M two days later to make a Sweet Sixteen most people had given up on seeing. The Boilers lose there to Duke, but it almost feels as good as a Final Four after the trauma of the past few weeks. Then all three juniors announce they're returning for their senior seasons to make one more run at a title.

Worst Case: The Boilermakers can be chapped and feel disrespected all they want, but they're still not the same team without Hummel -- and everyone who watched them score 11 points in the first half against Minnesota last week knows it. Trailing late against Siena in the first round, Hummel can't resist trying to help from the sidelines and pokes the ball away from Saints point guard Ronald Moore with his crutch. Technical foul adds insult to injury to elimination.

Best Case: Having magically transformed themselves after the Luke Harangody injury from run-and-gun to crawl-and-maul, the Fighting Irish learn to love slow-down ball and ride it to the regional final. Notre Dame has played seven straight games of 63 or fewer possessions, after playing just six of its first 27 games that slowly. Now, gifted with an absurd No. 6 seed when a No. 10 was more in order, Notre Dame takes advantage with a first-round win over Old Dominion 48-44. Then, resisting the natural urge to run with Baylor, the Irish frustrate the Bears 52-51. Finally, the Irish luck into Richmond in the Sweet Sixteen and win 57-54. Good fortune runs out against Duke, but by then, everyone feels good about pulling this season out of the fire.

Worst Case: Notre Dame's flukish high seed also is good luck for No. 11 Old Dominion, which draws a team it's very capable of beating. Coach Mike Brey goes overboard on slow-down conversion, channeling Dick Bennett and demanding five chest passes on every possession before anyone looks at the rim. Harangody looks at Brey like he's lost it and starts jacking jumpers. The Monarchs win with ease.

Best Case: The remarkable rebirth of a program climaxes in Houston when Baylor, seven years removed from the worst scandal in college basketball history, reaches its first Final Four in 60 years. Scarred by one teammate murdering another and tainted by a corrupt cover-up of NCAA violations, the Bears were as far down as you can get in 2003. Now, paced by shooting guard LaceDarius Dunn and the jauntily named point guard Tweety Carter, Baylor has marched past Sam Houston State, Notre Dame, Villanova and Duke -- Duke! -- to scale previously inconceivable heights. Coach Scott Drew, who spent most of his formative years in Indiana and is a graduate of Butler, returns home for the Final Four with screenwriters trailing after him, shouting proposal offers at his back. Dad Homer, who knows a thing or two about March miracles, gives as many interviews as Archie Manning during Super Bowl week.

Worst Case: The Baptist school is completely out of whack in New Orleans, and the anxiety transfers from fans to team. Nobody on the Baylor team has ever won an NCAA tournament game, and it shows. Against a hot-shooting Sam Houston State squad, the Bears start stressing and play out of character. Suddenly a tight game becomes desperate and comes down to the final possession. Down two, Scott Drew draws up the Bryce Drew Special for the game-winning shot -- but doesn't have Bryce to shoot it. Dunn misses, and the bandwagon team of the week breaks down and slinks home early.

Best Case: Coach Chris Mooney keeps alive the giant-killer legacy of Dick Tarrant and John Beilein, and arachnophobia is in full effect in the Big Dance. The Spiders ride their underrated backcourt of Kevin Anderson and David Gonzalvez to three victories and a berth in the regional final, where they finally are beaten by Duke. Mooney turns down bigger jobs, and Richmond threatens to become the Xavier of Virginia.

Worst Case: With players listening to media speculation about Richmond being a sleeper team in this Dance, dangerous Saint Mary's sneaks up on the Spiders and squashes them with a sneaker. Mooney flees for more money somewhere else. Richmond slips back closer to becoming the La Salle of Virginia.

Best Case: Scottie Reynolds reprises his coast-to-coast maneuver of last year, this time doing it to Duke in the regional final as the Wildcats pull a delirious double: back-to-back Final Fours and back-to-back years eliminating the Blue Devils. They then upset Kentucky in the semifinals despite a massive height disadvantage. It's ovah for Nova on Monday night against Kansas, but this is a stand-up run on the 25th anniversary of the 1985 national championship.

Worst Case: Increasingly active ref-baiter Jay Wright gets his pretty mug frozen in mid-whine at the officials late against Robert Morris. Sick of hearing it, the officials smack Wright with a game-turning technical foul as the Wildcats are shockingly eliminated to complete a terrible late-season swoon. Slap-happy Nova is whistled for 25 fouls in the game, all of them legit, and afterward, Wright must shake hands with Robert Morris assistant Jimmy Martelli -- the son of Philly archrival coach Phil Martelli of Saint Joseph's. Female viewership of the tournament plummets with pretty boy Jay dispatched.

Best Case: Arinze Onuaku is the picture of good health and paint strength. Wes Johnson is back to jumping over and driving around everyone. Andy Rautins is making shots (and his hair is perfect). The 2-3 zone is in Shut It Down mode. The ball is passed with verve and aplomb. And Jim Boeheim cracks a perceptible smile as he trims the Final Four nets for the second time in his career on the night of April 5.

Worst Case: Onuaku can't go on his injured leg, forcing a thin team to dust off its backup big men. Guard Scoop Jardine shoots too much (11.3 field goal attempts per loss this season, 5.8 attempts per win). Chris Singleton shuts down Johnson. Boeheim looks like he has just spent two hours sucking on a lemon. Florida State sends Orange on short drive home from Buffalo in the second round.

Best Case: Elias Harris has the best NCAA tourney for a German kid playing college ball in the state of Washington since Detlef Schrempf led the Huskies to the 1984 Sweet 16. With Harris scoring, guards Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray distracting defenders with their hair, and seven-letter leaper Bol Kong playing like King Kong, Zags beat Florida State, shock Syracuse and advance to their first Final Four.

Worst Case: : After beating just one NCAA tourney team since Thanksgiving, Zags are outclassed by Florida State's size and athleticism. Harris is timid in first NCAA game. Bouldin and Gray are all hair, no game. Bol Kong is just another monosyllabic nonfactor. Zags are one and done.

Best Case: Inspired by Michigan State's 2009 NCAA tourney mission, Bulldogs kick it up a notch and shoot down UTEP, Vanderbilt, Syracuse and Kansas State en route to a fairy-tale Final Four in their own backyard. Gordon Hayward makes like Evan Turner Lite, doing everything. Brad Stevens signs lifetime contract. Smitten national media descend upon Hinkle Fieldhouse to write "Hoosiers"-themed stories about the Bulldogs. Dennis Hopper sends team a text message before national semifinal against Kansas: "Kick their a--." Gene Hackman shows up in locker room Monday before national title game against Kentucky to say, "I love you guys." Butler wins it all. School is renamed Hickory.

Worst Case:: In competing Hollywood themes, Butler butts up against the "Glory Road" boys from UTEP. Who are good. And underseeded at No. 12. Bulldogs cannot handle Derrick Caracter inside, cannot handle the Miners' athletes on the perimeter and are bounced in the first round. Hayward goes pro, and Stevens follows the line of coaches who have left Butler for bigger jobs. Gene Hackman stays home for the Final Four.

Best Case: Fluid offense carries Commodores past Murray State and Butler. Then Festus Ezeli becomes the most celebrated Festus since "Gunsmoke" when his backdoor layup in the closing seconds upsets Syracuse and sends the Commodores to their first regional final since 1965. Underrated coach Kevin Stallings becomes a hero to follicularly challenged men everywhere. Captivated media wants to write about how smart Vandy players are; Vandy players want to talk about basketball. On the other side of the country, Tennessee is blitzed by San Diego State.

Worst Case:: Flatlining Vandy team that has lost two of its last three games, both against nontourney teams, finds trouble against Murray. Big man A.J. Ogilvy shies away from physical stuff in the paint. Guards cannot produce enough pressure on Racers backcourt. Stallings follows 2008 first-round pratfall as a No. 4 seed (Siena then) with another one now. Players must return to class -- and class is hard. Meanwhile, Tennessee roars off to the Final Four.

Best Case: Jordan Crawford plays like the guy who dunked on LeBron last summer, rising up and taking down Minnesota -- and this time nobody confiscates the video. Then the Musketeers Revenge Tour starts: They get back at Pitt for 2009 tourney ouster, and Kansas State for 15-point beating in December. Suddenly they've made their second regional final in three years under two different coaches. Like all the Xavier coaches who came before him, first-year boss Chris Mack declares his love for the school. Unlike all the Xavier coaches who came before him, Mack means it and signs a long-term extension. Fans ask Cincinnati backers how the NIT is treating them.

Worst Case:: Facing tenacious Tubby Smith defense, Jordan Crawford plays like the volume shooter who missed 16 shots against Marquette, 14 against Wake Forest, 13 against Baylor and 12 against Florida. Go-go Musketeers get frustrated by Big Ten pace of the Gophers. Mack, coaching in his first NCAA game, gets school by Smith, coaching his 44th. And Crawford goes pro, while Lance Stephenson comes back to Cincinnati.

Best Case: Up one on a Big East rival in the final seconds of the regional final, Pitt flips last year's script. It gets in the way of a driving Scoop Jardine. And stays in the way. And blocks his shot at the buzzer. And advances to its first Final Four since 1941, with a team nobody thought would do much after losing its three star players from '09. Ashton Gibbs continues his breakout season by being named regional Most Outstanding Player. Back home, Pittsburghers take five-minute break from 24/7 Ben Roethlisberger obsession to salute the Panthers. Meanwhile, West Virginia loses to Morgan State.

Worst Case:: Panthers finally realize they've overachieved all season and don't have anything left for this tourney. Gibbs continues his season-long trend of awful shooting games in Pitt losses (he's 29-of-106) by going 2-for-16 in a shocking first-round loss to Oakland. Back home, Pittsburghers take five-minute break from 24/7 Ben Roethlisberger obsession to complain about losing to JaMarcus Russell, thinking the Oakland everyone is talking about is the Raiders. Sixteen days later, West Virginia wins the national title.

Best Case: Parents everywhere begin naming their baby boys "Jimmer" after watching guard Jimmer Fredette -- fresh off 75 points in two Mountain West Conference tournament games -- light up the tournament like the second coming of Danny Ainge. Florida, Kansas State and Pittsburgh all play Fredette roulette and lose, with the guard blowing up on them to lead BYU to the regional final. Cougars finally fall there to Syracuse, but it goes down as the best run since 1981, when Ainge did in Notre Dame. And there's no sign of Utah anywhere in the bracket.

Worst Case:: Jimmer simmers down against relentless Florida denial defense, cannot score, and BYU is dispatched to its fourth first-round loss in the last four years. All as the higher-seeded team. Which makes Utah fans very happy. Despite the NCAA record, coach Dave Rose is wooed away because of his 106-30 overall record the past four years.

Best Case: Lincoln beards for everyone! Jacob Pullen becomes the furry face of March Madness, shooting brilliantly until Kansas State has reached its first Final Four since Tex Winter was the coach in 1964. Fellow guard Denis Clemente takes it from there, channeling Rolando Blackman 1981 by floating a baseline jump shot over Cole Aldrich at the buzzer to beat rival Kansas in the national semifinal. There's no topping that, though, and an emotionally spent K-State is beaten by Kentucky in the title game -- which is OK, winning the state title and avenging three losses to KU this season is prize enough. Pullen then announces that he's returning for his senior season, and eternally irate Miamian Frank Martin sweetly declares himself so in love with Manhattan that he signs a lifetime contract.

Worst Case:: Burdened by the school's highest seeding ever, cold-shooting K-State struggles past North Texas in the first round and is whacked by BYU in Round 2. Frank Martin spontaneously combusts like a Spinal Tap drummer the first time one of his big men misses a defensive assignment against the Cougars, which rather unnerves his players and leaves burn marks in front of the K-State bench. In a clueless search to replace the cooked Martin, the school panics and rehires Jim Wooldridge, operating on the premise that recycling an old coach worked in football. Kansas, of course, goes on to win another national title and lords it over Wildcats fans.