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25 things to ponder about NCAA teams playing in Philly

CINDERELLA is charming in the first weekend, but by the time the Sweet 16 arrives, the power conferences generally take over.

Roy Williams' North Carolina team has won its last seven games.
Roy Williams' North Carolina team has won its last seven games.Read moreBob Donnan/USA Today Sports Images

CINDERELLA is charming in the first weekend, but by the time the Sweet 16 arrives, the power conferences generally take over.

Despite a litany of upsets in the East Region, the four teams that have advanced to play at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday and Sunday are from either the ACC or the Big Ten.

While Notre Dame doesn't have the basketball pedigree of the other three schools, it does have plenty of Philadelphia flavor. So strike up the band, break out the history books and tell the governor to get out of the way. Here are 25 things to know about this year's East Regionals.

1 Wisconsin is 15-7 under Greg Gard, who took over after legendary head coach Bo Ryan abruptly resigned in December. Gard, who was 45 when he was promoted, had been as assistant under Ryan for 23 years - more than half his life.

2 Wisconsin was 9-9 on Jan. 12, including 1-4 in the Big Ten.

3 Records for the other three teams on Jan. 12: Indiana 14-3, North Carolina 15-2, Notre Dame 10-5.

4 North Carolina-Indiana, Friday's second game, is a rematch of the 1981 national championship game played at the Spectrum. The March 30 game started seven minutes late while NBC wrestled with the idea of televising the game or coverage of the assassination attempt on President Reagan hours earlier in Washington.

5 North Carolina has won seven in a row, all against NCAA Tournament teams, and is playing arguably the best it has all season. "Now is that going to transfer over when we play (this weekend)? I have no idea because they're 18-, 19-, 20- and 21-year-olds," coach Roy Williams said.

6 Speaking of old, Williams was a North Carolina assistant in 1981. Just kidding. He'll be 66 in August.

7 The East is the only region where the second (Xavier), third (West Virginia) and fourth (Kentucky) seeds all failed to reach the Sweet 16.

8 This run to the Sweet 16 has taken the heat off Indiana head coach Tom Crean, who hadn't won an NCAA Tournament game in three years (gasp). "I feel like we've come a long way," said senior point guard and team catalyst Yogi Ferrell. "This is a player-driven program . . . We hold each other accountable."

9 Ferrell is a finalist for national player of the year, national point guard of the year and was the first Hoosier to be named unanimous first-team All Big 10 in consecutive seasons since Calbert Cheaney in 1993.

10 Notre Dame junior guard Steve Vasturia (St. Joseph's Prep) has been to the Wells Fargo plenty of times for Sixers games, but has never played there. Until now.

11 Former Irish point guard Martin Ingelsby (Archbishop Carroll) is an assistant under Mike Brey.

12 North Carolina was ranked No. 1 in the preseason, Indiana was 15th, Wisky 17th and Notre Dame 19th. Highest ranked team in the preseason not to make the Sweet 16: No. 2 Kentucky, which lost last week to Indiana.

13 This is the first academic year that both Notre Dame's football and men's basketball teams have played games in Philadelphia since 1993-94.

14 In 1993, Notre Dame's football team thumped Navy at Veterans Stadium. Ten weeks later, the Irish lost in overtime to La Salle at the Civic Center when La Salle's Kareem Townes dropped 38. Earlier this season, Notre Dame's football team escaped Lincoln Financial Field with a four-point win over Temple.

15 Wisconsin, which had been to the last two Final Fours, had to replace five of its top seven scorers from a year ago.

16 Indiana (50.5) is second in the nation in field-goal shooting, behind only NIT participant St. Mary's (50.9).

17 Notre Dame point guard Demetrius Jackson will be a top-15 NBA pick.

18 North Carolina and Indiana last played in the NCAA Tournament in 1984 when the Hoosiers beat the Tar Heels in the second round in a game that turned out to be Michael Jordan's last in college.

19 The ACC has a record six teams in the Sweet 16, including Notre Dame and North Carolina here in Philadelphia. The only ACC team to lose last week was Pittsburgh, which was beaten by Wisconsin.

20 Chris Christie is expected to be at the Notre Dame-Wisconsin game. His daughter is one of the Irish's managers and he's known coach Mike Brey since Brey was the coach at Delaware (1995-2000).

21 Indiana guard Robert Johnson continues to be hampered by a left high ankle sprain. Coach Tom Crean called his availability for Friday "iffy," according to the Indianapolis Star .

22 The Hoosiers lost James Blackmon to a season-ending injury during a practice in late December. Blackmon was second on the team in scoring at 15.8 per game.

23 Friday is Crean's 50th birthday. Actor Tom Arnold, Crean's lookalike, just turned 57.

24 Notre Dame freshman Rex Pflueger's tip-in in the wanning seconds to beat S.F. Austin in the previous round made him an unlikely hero. It was his first made field goal in more than two weeks.

25 Wisconsin point guard Nigel Hayes is one of the most delightful young players in the field. He is entertaining both on the court and off, like last week in St. Louis when he asked the media to get out the word his crush on Lea Michele from the TV show Glee.