Division I Men's Basketball Championship

Dates and sites: The opening-round game will be at Dayton March 16. First-/second-round games March 18 and 20 will be at Buffalo, New York; Raleigh, North Carolina; Denver; and Seattle. First-/second-round games March 19 and 21 will be at Kansas City, Missouri; Orlando, Florida; Columbus, Ohio; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Regional play March 25 and 27 will be at East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Phoenix. Regional play March 26 and 28 will be at Atlanta and St. Louis. The Final Four will be April 3 and 5 at San Antonio.

Field: Sixty-five teams, two of which will play an opening-round game.

Selection date: March 14.

2003 champion: Syracuse.

Top contenders: Stanford, St. Joseph's, Duke, Gonzaga, Pittsburgh, Mississippi State, Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Connecticut.

Championship notes: St. Joseph's remains the only unbeaten team after Washington upset previously top-ranked Stanford March 6. St. Joseph's, led by player-of-the-year candidate Jameer Nelson, became the first Division I team since 1991 to finish the regular season unbeaten with its March 2 victory over St. Bonaventure ... Duke has clinched its 16th Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title, but saw its 41-game home-court winning streak snapped March 3 by Georgia Tech ... Gonzaga became the first team since 1992 to go through West Coast Conference play undefeated, and the Bulldogs' only losses were to Stanford and St. Joseph's.

Division I Women's Basketball Championship

Dates and sites: First- and second-round games will be held March 20 and 22 at Albuquerque, New Mexico; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; Missoula, Montana; Philadelphia; Santa Barbara, California; Tallahassee, Florida; and Tempe, Arizona; and March 21 and 23 at Ames, Iowa; Austin, Texas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Blacksburg, Virginia; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Durham, North Carolina; Minneapolis; and South Bend,

Field: Sixty-four teams.

Selection date: March 14.

2003 champion: Connecticut.

Top contenders: In a February 24 USA Today/ESPN poll, Connecticut, Tennessee, Duke, Purdue and Texas comprised the top five.

Championship notes: Connecticut had its 69-game home winning streak snapped with a one-point loss to Duke in January, but the Huskies will gain their 15th straight NCAA tournament appearance and will try for a fifth national championship ... Total tournament attendance last year was 335,456, compared to 56,320 for the first tournament in 1982 ... Duke is the only team currently in the top five without a national championship to its credit. Texas last won the national crown in 1986 and Purdue cut down the nets in 1999 ... Tennessee is the only team to win the title three years in a row (1996-98).

Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship

Dates and sites: East and West regional first round (Albany, New York, and Colorado Springs, Colorado), March 26; East and West regional finals, Midwest regional (Grand Rapids, Michigan) and Northeast regional (Manchester, New Hampshire), March 27; Midwest and Northeast finals, March 28; national semifinals (Boston), April 8; championship game, April 10.

Field: Sixteen teams divided into four regions. Four regional winners advance to the Frozen Four.

Selection date: March 21.

2003 champion: Minnesota.

Top contenders: North Dakota, Boston College, Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota Duluth were the top five teams according to the USA Today/American Hockey Magazine poll for the week of March 1.

Championship notes: Last year, Minnesota became the first team to repeat as national champion since Boston University accomplished the feat in 1971-72. No team has pulled off a "three-peat" since Michigan in 1951-53 ... The Men's Frozen Four has become one of the hottest NCAA championships. Last year's event in Buffalo, New York, drew more than 18,700 fans, which was the second-highest attendance in the history of the event, which dates back to 1948. The record for attendance was set in 2002, with more than 19,300 fans attending the Frozen Four in St. Paul, Minnesota. Total championship attendance was more than 121,200 last year -- the second-highest total attendance. The record total attendance of 139,170 was set in 1989.

Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships

Dates and site: The national meet will be March 25-27 at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, New York.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 270. All qualifiers who have met the "A" time standard will be admitted into the meet; those who have met the "B" time standard will be considered until the event is filled. A total of 35 divers will be entered into the championships. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

2003 team champion: Auburn.

Top team contenders: Auburn, Stanford, Texas, California and Florida comprised the top five in the final College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll February 26.

Championships notes: The SEC (Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Kentucky), Pac-10 (Stanford, California, Southern California, Arizona State and Washington) and Big Ten (Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Indiana) accounted for 16 of the CSCAA's top 25 at the end of the dual-meet season ... Because this is an Olympic year, the NCAAs will be conducted in short-course meters instead of short-course yards. The short-course meters format, used for the first time in 2000, is in place to allow Olympic hopefuls a better chance to qualify for the Olympic Trials ... Texas swimmer Ian Crocker set a world record in the 50-meter freestyle at the Big 12 Conference championships. Crocker is the defending champion in the NCAA 100-yard butterfly.

Division I Women's Swimming and Diving Championships

Dates and site: Texas A&M hosts the nationals March 18-20.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 322. All qualifiers who have met the "A" time standard will be admitted into the meet; those who have met the "B" time standard will be considered until the event is filled. A total of 41 divers will be entered into the championships. No team is allowed more than 18 competitors.

2003 team champion: Auburn.

Top team contenders: Auburn, Georgia, Florida, California and Stanford comprised the top five in the final College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll February 26.

Championships notes: SEC and Pac-10 teams occupy the top seven CSCAA poll spots ... Because this is an Olympic year, the NCAAs will be conducted in short-course meters instead of short-course yards. The short-course meters format, used for the first time in 2000, is in place to allow Olympic hopefuls a better chance to qualify for the Olympic Trials ... California, which finished fourth in the Pac-10 championships, returns two-time defending swimmer-of-the-meet Natalie Coughlin, who won the 100-yard freestyle at the Pac-10s. Coughlin has won nine NCAA titles in her career.

Division I Wrestling Championships

Dates and site: The championships will be March 18-20 at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.

Field: There will be 330 competitors determined through qualifying tournaments.

Qualifying date: March 7.

2003 team champion: Oklahoma State.

Top team contenders: Oklahoma State, Minnesota, Iowa State, Nebraska, Michigan.

Championships notes: Oklahoma State has won more team titles in wrestling (31) than any other school in any other sport, and is heavily favored to win its second straight title in St. Louis. Two-time champion Johnny Thompson leads the Cowboys at 133 pounds and other individual championship contenders include Tyrone Lewis at 165 pounds, Chris Pendleton at 174 and Jake Rosholt at 184 ... Top challengers to the Cowboys come from the Big 12 and Big Ten Conferences. Iowa State and Nebraska (led by top-ranked Jason Powell at 125 pounds) join Oklahoma State and two other Big 12 schools in the national top-10 rankings. Big Ten hopeful Minnesota scored a late-season dual win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater, and Michigan also features several nationally ranked wrestlers, led by Ryan Bertin at 157 pounds.