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Sleep is a good thing

After working four straight days at 6 a.m., I decided to just go to sleep after last night's games ended at 12:30 in the morning. That gives me a lot of ground to cover, so here goes.

After working four straight days at 6 a.m., I decided to just go to sleep after last night's games ended at 12:30 in the morning.

That gives me a lot of ground to cover in this post, so let's get going.

Dick Jerardi was in Charlotte for last night's games. He recaps

» READ MORE: North Carolina's rout of Washington State

and

» READ MORE: Louisville's chaotic win over Tennessee

.

As

» READ MORE: Joe Juliano

and

» READ MORE: Mike Kern

write, one of tonight's big storylines will be how Villanova, Kansas, Wisconsin and Davidson handle the enormity of Ford Field. They've put the court in the middle of the football field instead of in the end zone, which is a terrible idea unless you're in charge of counting revenues at NCAA headquarters.

It's one thing to play in a place like the Carrier Dome, which doesn't actually take up that much space physically. Same goes for the soon-to-close RCA Dome in Indianapolis.

But the really gargantuan facilities, like Ford Field and Reliant Stadium in Houston -- both hosting regionals this year, and Final Fours in years to come -- are really bad basketball venues. That won't stop games from being played there, but it won't surprise me if none of the teams playing in Detroit shoot very well tonight or on Sunday.

Interesting to see, by the way, the quote from Scottie Reynolds, who worried about what might happen if he dives for a loose ball and goes flying off the floor. You have to hope that doesn't stop him from trying.

Kern also writes that tonight's game is as much

» READ MORE: an opportunity

as a challenge for the Wildcats, and even adds a third story about how Bill Self isn't taking 'Nova

» READ MORE: for granted

.

Juliano and Mike Jensen get together for a

» READ MORE: notebook

with some quite interesting tidbits, including which team Larry Brown will root for tonight (he coached Kansas to a national championship in 1988) and whether Bill Self can out-dress Jay Wright. I'll believe that when I see it, honestly.

Lastly from Villanova camp, Bob Ford has a long column about how the Wildcats

» READ MORE: recruited Scottie Reynolds

.

Elsewhere in Detroit,

» READ MORE: Jensen

and

» READ MORE: Rich Hofmann

profile Davidson star Stephen Curry.

Oh, and Kern isn't done yet. Here are capsule previews of

» READ MORE: Wisconsin-Davidson

and

» READ MORE: Villanova-Kansas

, including three things each team must do to win.

Bob Cooney is in Houston, where the court is at midfield but at least there will be curtains behind the ends. He writes that Texas-Stanford is a matchup of

» READ MORE: size against speed

, while Memphis' John Calipari and Michigan State's Tom Izzo are not happy at all about having to

» READ MORE: play each other

. Plus

» READ MORE: capsule previews

with keys to the games.

Finally, Frank Fitzpatrick asks whether

» READ MORE: Billy Packer enjoys his life

. Which brings us to tonight's schedule, and yes, you might notice someone missing from the local broadcasts...

» READ MORE: coverage map

M10. Davidson vs. M3. Wisconsin (Ford Field, Detroit, Mich. / Gus Johnson and Len Elmore)

S3. Stanford vs. S2. Texas (Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas / Jim Nantz and Billy Packer)

» READ MORE: coverage map

M12. Villanova vs. M1. Kansas (Ford Field, Detroit, Mich. / Gus Johnson and Len Elmore)

S5. Michigan State vs. S1. Memphis (Reliant Stadium, Houston Texas / Jim Nantz and Billy Packer)

Now for last night's top performances. Since there were four games, I picked four players.

You'll notice that all four of them in the later two games. West Virginia-Xavier might have been the game of the night, but I didn't think any one person was particularly outstanding for all 45 minutes. Josh Duncan was in foul trouble, and though C.J. Raymond was clutch in overtime he didn't do much before then.