It is perhaps fitting that there will be plenty of red, white and blue in the Wachovia Center stands for this year's NCAA Tournament.
The white and blue will be provided primarily by Villanova and Connecticut, who tied for the regular season Big East title with 14-2 conference records. Both schools are No. 1 seeds, in the Minneapolis and Washington regions, respectively.
It will also come from Kentucky, which is the No. 8 seed in the Washington region. The Wildcats will face No. 9 seed Alabama-Birmingham in the first round, a matchup that will surely bring back memories of the then-9-seed Blazers' stunning upset of Kentucky in the second round of the 2003 tournament.
Of course, Kentucky (21-12, 9-7 Southeast) has plenty of memories of games in Philadelphia, although they aren't all good either. Duke forward Christian Laettner's buzzer-beater to knock off the Wildcats in the 1992 East Regional Final at the Spectrum remains one of the signature plays in NCAA Tournament history.
Connecticut (27-3, 14-2 Big East) will face Albany in the first round at the Wachovia Center. The Great Danes (21-10, 13-3 America East) won the America East Tournament as the top seed and are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in team history.
Villanova (25-4, 14-2 Big East) will face the winner of tonight's play-in game between Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Hampton and Northeast Conference champion Monmouth.
Hampton (16-15, 10-8 MEAC) is known for its exploits as a 15 seed. In 2001, the Pirates beat No. 2 Iowa State in the first round of the Tournament, and the images of Hampton players rushing the court still pop up in many NCAA Tournament video montages.
Monmouth (18-14, 12-6 Northeast) is in the Big Dance for the third time in six years, previously winning the Northeast Conference in 2001 and 2004.
Of course, most of the attention will be on Villanova, playing not just in its home town but on a court where it plays in the regular season. Because the Atlantic 10 is the host institution for the venue's tournament games, Villanova is allowed to play at the Wachovia Center now because it only scheduled games there in the regular season.
With the white and blue accounted for, the red in the crowd will be provided by the two teams Villanova could face in the second round -- Arizona and Wisconsin. Led by forward Alando Tucker, the Badgers (19-11, 9-5 Big Ten) finished fourth in their conference this season. The 6-foot-6, 210-pound junior averages 19 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
As the third set of Wildcats to be making their way to the Wachovia Center, Arizona (19-12, 11-7 Pacific 10) will probably have star forward Hassan Adams back after he was suspended from the Pacific 10 Tournament due to a DUI arrest.
It will be an all-American color scheme for an all-American sporting event, held right here in Philadelphia.
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