Ken Davis

Cinderella can take a number and get in line at the local job fair. The NCAA tournament has eliminated her position.

After four days of amazingly predictable basketball, the annual paring of the field from 64 to 16 teams is complete. What we have left is a group of muscle men, powerful teams largely from the power conferences, and more top seeds than any other Sweet 16 in history.

One publication referred to it as “March Blandness” and it did border on boring at times. But if your prefer a neat and orderly arrangement, along the lines of 2008 when four No. 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four for the first time, then this is a dream come true.

It also sets up what could be a remarkable Sweet 16 showcase.

For the first time since the seeding process started in 1979, all of the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 seeds have advanced to the Sweet 16. That’s right. Lines 1 through 3 are still intact. And two No. 4 seeds have come along for the ride too.

There wasn’t much complaining on Selection Sunday — except for the usual whining from Memphis about the lack of respect for Conference USA — and that’s always a sign that the men’s basketball committee did a pretty decent job. If that’s what we expect from the committee, then we can’t gripe too much about the way things have played out.

Take a look at the right side of the tournament bracket. There’s chalk everywhere. Every 1, 2, 3 and 4 seed advanced. Switch to the left side. In the West, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 won, and the lone case of deviant behavior was No. 5 seed Purdue defeating No. 4 Washington.

In the Midwest, Nos. 1, 2 and 3 were survivors. And then we have Arizona, this year’s real wild card. The Wildcats are a No. 12 seed. They were the topic of great debate last week. As one of the last teams included in the field, Arizona was criticized for not belonging.

To that Arizona simply said: “Really? Oh, really?”

No. 12 seeds typically find that the glass slipper fits, especially in a Sweet 16 field such as this. But you can’t tell me that Arizona is Cinderella. No way. Not with NBA prospects Jordan Hill, Nic Wise and Chase Budinger on the floor together. It wasn’t an upset when Arizona beat No. 5 Utah on Friday. The Wildcats also dodged one when Wake Forest lost to Cleveland State in the first round. Most importantly, this is Arizona’s 25th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, so the Wildcats lost their Cinderella card a long time ago.

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But it’s still a terrific story. Wise said he told his teammates five weeks ago that he wanted to be in the national championship game. His teammates couldn't have agreed more.

Said Budinger: “I don’t think anybody signed up for what has happened, especially me, Nic and Jordan coming here three years ago. We thought we would be playing for one coach our whole college career [instead of three]. You just have to go with it and stay positive, and I think that’s what we’ve done.”

Teams that reach the Sweet 16 feel a real sense of accomplishment. The only thing harder than winning two games in the first weekend is winning the next two to reach the Final Four. And for the players who get this far, that’s the goal that remains stuck in their minds.

That explains everything really. After a topsy-turvy regular season where no one could hold on to the No. 1 ranking, we now have the best teams focused on the big prize. That may have reduced the number of upsets (something we are accustomed to in March), but it could be setting the stage for a very memorable regional round.

The Big East has five teams remaining (Marquette almost made it six) and that’s a Sweet 16 record for one conference. Louisville, UConn and Pitt are still alive as No. 1 seeds. Villanova and Pitt could meet in the East finale. And Syracuse, with its 2-3 zone defense, continues to look dangerous, something Blake Griffin and No. 2 Oklahoma must realize heading into that South semifinal. And given the memory of the 2003 championship game Roy Williams and Kansas lost to Syracuse, it’s hard to imagine the North Carolina coach wanting any part of the Orange in the South finale.

As Pitt coach Jamie Dixon tries to get the Panthers past the Sweet 16 for the first time, isn’t it ironic that a beloved former Pitt point guard stands in their immediate path? We will likely be seeing a lot of that old Tonight Show footage of five-year-old Sean Miller dribbling for Johnny Carson in the coming days. Miller, now coach at Xavier, was the Big East freshman of the year at Pitt in 1988.

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“This is really about our team and our players having an opportunity to continue to play and move past the Sweet 16,” Miller said Sunday. “And regardless of who we play, we know every level you jump it becomes increasingly difficult, more difficult because the teams that are still alive are even better and stronger and deeper.

“And clearly, I always have one eye on [Pitt] because they're such a terrific program, more so than when I went to school there.”

Overall, this has been a bad tournament for the Big Ten and the Atlantic Coast Conference. But both have their best two teams alive — Michigan State and Purdue from the Big Ten; North Carolina and Duke from the ACC.