Top seeds march on

All the top seeds made it through. Stanford’s coach will be back on the sidelines. Duke will watch the rest of the tournament from the couch.

After Sunday’s games, there are 16 teams remaining in the NCAA tournament, though many of the story lines that existed when the bracket came out are still alive and well.

The conversation starts with the No. 1 seeds.

UCLA, Kansas, Memphis and North Carolina all made it through. The Jayhawks and Tar Heels did it most impressively, winning their four games by an average of 28. Memphis and UCLA, meanwhile, looked vulnerable in their second-round victories.

“We’ve been getting everybody’s best game,” Bruins coach Ben Howland said after UCLA barely escaped. “That’s why this is the greatest sporting event in all of American sports, because anybody can beat anybody.”

Speaking of which, UCLA’s next opponent in the West Regional is Western Kentucky, one of three double-digit seeds remaining in the tournament. The 12th-seeded Hilltoppers were part of the craziness in Tampa, where upsets reigned and 12th-seeded Villanova also advanced out of the Midwest Regional.

Two of the other seven Big East teams that made the tournament advanced. Louisville rolled through its two games, including a 78-48 win over Oklahoma on Sunday, and West Virginia also advanced with an upset over second-seeded Duke.

The South Region pits Memphis, a 77-74 winner over Mississippi State, against Michigan State in one game and Stanford vs. Texas in the other.

In the Midwest, Big Ten champion Wisconsin will take on the NCAA’s other double-digit surprise. That would be 10th-seeded Davidson, which beat Gonzaga for its first tournament win since 1969, then knocked out another No. 2 seed, Georgetown, for an encore.

Kansas plays Villanova on the other side of the Midwest bracket.

In the East, No. 3 Louisville plays No. 2 Tennessee and No. 4 Washington State plays No. 1 North Carolina.

Form held perfectly there, though the Vols struggled mightily against American and Butler, while Washington State was surprisingly impressive in blowouts over Winthrop and Notre Dame.

Even bigger steps will be taken beginning Thursday in Phoenix and Charlotte, N.C., then Friday in Detroit and Houston.

Busted bracket

The Midwest Regional will be the first with two double-digit seeds since the East Regional in 2003 had the exact same makeup.

Top-seeded Kansas, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 10 Davidson and No. 12 Villanova are heading for Detroit.

At Albany five years ago, it was top-seeded Oklahoma, No. 3 Syracuse, No. 10 Auburn and No. 12 Butler in the regional semifinals.

Wisconsin has to be hoping history keeps repeating itself as Syracuse beat Oklahoma in the regional final that year on the way to its first championship.

Conference call

The Pac-10 (UCLA, Washington State, Stanford) and the Big East (West Virginia, Villanova, Louisville) both have three teams in the round of 16 while the Big 12 (Kansas, Texas) and Big Ten (Michigan State, Wisconsin) have two each.

Last year the Southeastern Conference and the Pac-10 both had three teams reach the third round and each had one advance to the Final Four – Florida of the SEC and UCLA of the Pac-10.

UCLA is the only team with a chance to return to the Final Four as the Bruins look for their third in a row. Florida, which repeated as national champion last season, and runner-up Ohio State didn’t make the field of 65 this year and Georgetown was beaten by Davidson in the second round on Sunday.

Weird shooting

How do you explain Texas on Sunday?

The Longhorns went 13 of 26 from 3-point range in their 75-72 victory over Miami, Fla., a percentage most coaches can only dream of and that would lead the country. They went 12 of 21 on free throws, a percentage that has coaches reaching for antacids and would be the worst in the country.