European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 15, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Getting Down to 64 Mcaa tourney Field takes shape today soaring and scoring Dukes Christian Lattner leaps Between Maryland a Walt Williams and Kevin my Linton right to score during an Atlantic coast conference tournament game Friday at Charlotte . No. I Duke downed Maryland 94-87, and the slue devils Are expected to be the East regions top seeded team when the 64-school Mcaa held is announced today. See Page 22 for a Story on Friday nights major College games. By Doug Tucker Kansas City to. A after promising his wife he  do it Roy Kramer the new chairman of the Mcaa tournament selection committee just can to help himself. A i told her i would try to avoid what we always say that this is the most difficult year we Ever had to seed the 64-team bracket a said Kramer who was appointed to the Job last month. A but because of the parity that a developed in be been looking in the dictionary for another word for difficult. How about Tough Quot the committee is going to have some of the toughest challenges its Ever  As usual some schools that have enjoyed fairly Good seasons will cry foul when they Are left out of the big Field altogether. But 63 others and defending Champion Duke will happily be in when the Field is announced about 6 30 . Est today. The committees Tough challenges could translate into a rash of tournament upsets if the trend of the entire season holds Sway. In a year when nationally ranked teams combined for More than 20 losses for three straight weeks most experts agree that the product Kramer a nine Man committee finally unveils sunday night could turn out to be the wildest most wide open Mcaa tournament Ever. Could this be the year a no. 16 seed finally Breaks through in the first round to oust a no. 1? Quot you have to say anything a possible. In my 20 years of being involved with the tournament i can to remember a time when i thought this Many teams had a legitimate Chance to win the whole thing a said Tom Jernstedt the no aah a associate executive director in charge of the tourney. Quot the Best example of what in a talking about is what happened that night in the big  in a spasm of unpredictability one night in february the big eight a four ranked teams All lost to its four a ranked teams a glut of upsets that seemed to underscore what was going on All Over the country. Eleven of the top 12 teams got beaten one week. Voters in the associated press poll even began adjusting their grading system frequently taking teams that would lose two games in a week and dropping them Only one or two spots. A this tournaments going to be wide open a said Kramer the commissioner of the Southeastern conference who replaced the late Tom Frericks As chairman. A there Are those who might differ who will look at teams like Duke and Kansas and say the Power Structure really Hasni to changed. But from an Overall standpoint we have the potential for the most exciting most wide open tournament we be  As in past years 30 spots go to automatic qualifiers As conference regular season or tournament champions. This will include the stars and stripes poits March 15,1992 b Page 24 almost All the weakest and Many of the tournaments strongest teams. The committees main task will then be deciding upon the 34 at Large entries and seeding the four regional 1 through 16. Armed with regional reports and reams of computer data the committee works without constraints free to take As Many teams As it wants from any conference and ship them to any regional in the country. A your Job is to get the Best 34 teams available a earner said. A those last few Are always the  the big East big eight acc and big ten All Hope to get As Many As six teams each. The record for a conference is the big East a seven several years ago. In this year of parity look for several at Large teams with losing records in their conference to show up on the Board sunday. Quot we look at Many other factors such As Overall strength of schedule How Many wins against top teams a school has whether a team has played Well on the Road and How Well a team has played in its last 10-12 games a Kramer said. As conference tournaments and regular season clashes wound Down Best bets for no. 1 seeds seemed to be no. 1 Duke in the East no. 3 Kansas in the Midwest no. 5 Ohio state or no. 4 Indiana in the Southeast and no. 2 Arizona and no. 8 Urcla in the West. Notre Dame on the basis of victories Over such Powers As Urcla and Southern cat hoped for a bid despite a 14-14 record. But the Irish also have losses to such non Powers As Detroit mercy. A i  say a .500 team cannot get in a Kramer said. A if it has significant wins and its rating Index is Strong enough. But tradition would say it s somewhat difficult.�?�. Kramer and Ken free of the mid Eastern athletic conference Are the Only commissioners on the committee. The others All athletic directors Are Jake Crouthamel Syracuse Bob Frederick Kansas . Newton Kentucky Tom Butters Duke Gary Cunningham Cah Fomia Fresno Rudy Davalos Houston and Charles Harris Arizona state. Inside sports Plum Sens men bump a town a Page 18 knee sidelines Fernandez after 3 batters a Page 21 clippers extend Mays losing Streak a Page 21 Floyd nabs sole Lead in Honda a Page 23 Mcaa picks women s 48 today by the associated press in women a basketball some old Powers have stumbled and been replaced by some new ones. But no. 1 Virginia 29-1 and no. 2 Tennessee 27-2 have remained at or near the top. And both Are expected to be among the four no. 1 regional seeds today when the 48-team Mcaa tournament Field is announced. Last year Tennessee Defeated Virginia in overtime for the lady vols third Mcaa Crown and the two teams will be favored to meet again in los Angeles at the women s final four april 4-5. Everything is wide open in terms of the makeup of the Field. For the first time since the tournament began in 1982, selecting at Large teams will be As Tough if not tougher than the seeding of the Field. The Field is composed of 23 automatic qualifiers who won conference championships with the remaining 25 at Large teams selected by the committee. Eight teams will be named the top National seeds with the four no. 1 seeds placed on top of each Region. Besides Virginia and Tennessee other prime contenders for the top spots include no. 3 Stanford no. 5 Mississippi no. 6 Miami and no. 7 Iowa. The remaining contenders for the National eight include no. 4 Stephen r. Austin no. 8 Maryland no. 9 Penn state no. 10 Southwest Missouri state and no. 12 Purdue