2008 NCAA Tournament Bracket: Road to the Final Four

March began with conference play that placed the conference champions in the field of the Final 65 that will lead to the Final Four. But the 'Road to San Antonio' would not be so easy for others and would need placing in the tournament by the NCAA Selection Committee. Still, many of the teams were right where they were supposed to be going into the tournament. The number one seeds, as expected, were North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis, and UCLA.

The #1 North Carolina Tarheels, who are 32-2 overall, got the #1 seed in the East bracket by beating Clemson 86-81 to be the Atlantic Coast Conference champions. Clemson had shocked #7 Duke to get to the conference championship game. North Carolina will play the winner of the Mt. St. Mary's/Coppin St. play-in game. (The 64th and 65th teams play to fill the final slot in the 64-team field.)

The # 2 Memphis Tigers beat Tulsa 77-51 to win the C-USA Conference title and clinch the #1 see in the South bracket.

The UCLA Bruins, #3 in the Associated Press poll, defeated #11 Stanford 67-64 to win the Pac-10 Conference championship and secure the first seed in the West bracket.

The #5 Kansas Jayhawks, 31-3, beat #6 Texas 84-74 to win the Big 12 Conference championship to get the top seed in the Midwest bracket.

One of the surprise entries in the tournament this year was the unranked Georgia Bulldogs, a team that entered the SEC tournament with a losing record, had their Friday night game canceled due to a tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta, had to play two games just hours apart on Saturday, and went into the conference title game against the Arkansas Razorbacks, another unranked team who had upset the #4 Tennessee Volunteers to reach the game. Seemingly undaunted, Georgia ran away with the game early on, winning 66-57. Georgia enters the tournament with a 17-16 record overall, a #14 seed in the West and will take on the #3 seed Xavier, who is 27-6 and ranked #10 nationally in the AP poll.