After that, UNLV or Illinois should not be a problem for coach Bill Self’s team, but the team awaiting the Jayhawks in San Antonio for the Sweet 16 could be if it’s Louisville, as we think it will be.

In the other half of the bracket, Notre Dame will breeze past Akron and can handle either Texas A&M or Florida State.

Purdue shouldn’t provide a challenge and the same goes for Georgetown, which felt the absence of point guard Chris Wright (broken non-shooting hand) in the Big East tournament. How effective Wright is when he comes back is the question mark.

Kansas-Louisville will be a great semifinal, but Kansas is a little bit better. Notre Dame should be waiting in the regional final, and Kansas again will have its hands full.

If the Jayhawks can beat Louisville and Notre Dame back-to-back, they deserve to move down the road from San Antonio to Houston.

1. Kansas (32-2)
No one has a better collection of big guys than the Jayhawks, led by Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff.

2. Notre Dame (26-6)
If the Irish are draining 3-pointers (they hit 20 of 32 against Villanova) they’re almost unbeatable. Big East Player of the Year Ben Hansbrough (18.5 ppg) leads an efficient unit.

3. Purdue (25-7)
The Boilermakers will go as far as JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore take them. Johnson, the Big Ten Player of the Year, averages 20.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game and shoots nearly 50 percent. Moore provides 18.2 ppg.

4. Louisville (25-9)
Cardinals are guard-oriented, with Preston Knowles (14.8 ppg) and Peyton Siva (10.1) leading the way. However, the Cardinals are outrebounded on average.

5. Vanderbilt (23-10)
John Jenkins (19.5 ppg) scores from anywhere, while Festus Ezeli scores (12.8 ppg), rebounds (6.2 rpg), and blocks shots (86).

6. Georgetown (21-10)
Good news for the Hoyas: Senior point guard Chris Wright, second on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg), returns after breaking his left hand four games ago (team lost all four, averaging just 51.5 points).

7. Texas A&M (24-8)
Aggies have no standouts but rely on great team defense to win games.

8. UNLV (24-8)
A well-coached, smart, veteran team that has 115 fewer turnovers than opponents.

9. Illinois (19-13)
Demetri McCamey is a prolific scorer (14.8 ppg), but was held to 4, 5, and 6 points in losses to Purdue, Ohio State, and (gasp!) Indiana.

10. Florida State (21-10)
Seminoles haven’t won a tournament game since 1998, but junior forward Chris Singleton (13.8 ppg, 7.1 rpg) led them to solid wins over Duke and Baylor to earn at-large invitation.

11. Southern California (19-14)
Trojans seem to play up (five top-50 RPI wins) or down (three sub-200 RPI losses) to their level of competition.

11. Virginia Commonwealth (23-11)
A pair of seniors, guard Joey Rodriguez and forward Jamie Skeen, are an outstanding inside-outside combo.

12. Richmond (27-7)
The Spiders have a great guard in Kevin Anderson. They will frustrate an opponent with Princeton-style offense.

13. Morehead State (24-9)
Kenneth Faried, 6-8, is a double-double machine and the nation’s leading rebounder (14.5).

14. Saint Peter’s (20-13)
The Peacocks don’t shoot well (40 percent), but they don’t allow opponents to shoot well, either (37 percent, No. 2 nationally).

15. Akron (23-12)
The Zips are well-coached by Keith Dambrot, who was LeBron James’s coach in high school.

16. Boston University (21-13)
The Terriers overcame lots of adversity but persevered behind explosive guard John Holland (19.2 ppg).

Analysis by Mark Blaudschun. Capsules by Joe Sullivan and Michael Whitmer