Division I Men’s Basketball Championship

Dates and sites: The opening-round game is March 14 at Dayton. First- and second-round games are March 16-19 in Greensboro, North Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; Salt Lake City; San Diego; Dayton, Philadelphia; Dallas; and Auburn Hills, Michigan. Regionals are March 23-26 in Atlanta; Minneapolis; Oakland, California; and Washington, D.C. The Final Four is April 1 and 3 in Indianapolis.

Field: Sixty-five teams.

Selection date: March 12.

2005 champion: North Carolina.

Top contenders: Duke, Connecticut, Villanova, Memphis, Texas, Gonzaga, Ohio State, Illinois, North Carolina.

Championship notes: Duke senior guard J.J. Redick became the Atlantic Coast Conference’s all-time leading scorer February 25, surpassing Wake Forest’s Dickie Hemric, who scored 2,587 career points in the 1950s ... Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun will be looking for his third national championship since the 1998-99 season ... Villanova senior guards Allan Ray and Randy Foye have each scored more than 1,800 career points ... Memphis will be looking to advance to the Final Four for the third time in program history ... Texas is celebrating the 100th year of its men’s basketball program ... Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison ended the regular season averaging 28.6 points per game.

Division I Women’s Basketball Championship

Dates and sites: First- and second-round games are March 18-21 in Chicago; Denver; Nashville, Tennessee; Tucson, Arizona; Norfolk, Virginia; Trenton, New Jersey; University Park, Pennsylvania; and West Lafayette, Indiana. Regionals are March 25-28 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; San Antonio; Bridgeport, Connecticut; and Cleveland. The Women’s Final Four is April 2 and 4 in Boston.

Field: Sixty-four teams.

Selection date: March 13.

2005 champion: Baylor.

Top contenders: North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, LSU, Rutgers, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Connecticut, Ohio State.

Championship notes: North Carolina junior point guard Ivory Latta was named the player of the year in the Atlantic Coast Conference ... Duke’s senior class of Monique Currie, Mistie Williams and Jessica Foley are undefeated against every ACC team except Florida State and North Carolina  ... Maryland won a program-record 26 regular-season games ... LSU is looking to make its third consecutive Women’s Final Four appearance ... Rutgers has won two straight Big East Conference regular-season titles ... Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris grabbed 445 rebounds in the regular season, an NCAA freshman record ... Tennessee made its 500th appearance in the Associated Press poll February 25 ... Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma is among 16 finalists for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2006.

Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Championship

Dates and sites: The Northeast Regional in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the West Regional in Grand Forks, North Dakota, are March 24-25; and the East Regional in Albany, New York, and the Midwest Regional in Green Bay, Wisconsin, are March 25-26. The Frozen Four is at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 6 and 8.

Field: Sixteen teams.

Selection date: March 19.

2005 champion: Denver.

Top contenders: Minnesota, Miami (Ohio), Boston University, Wisconsin.

Championship notes: Minnesota’s Ryan Potulny scored a nation-leading 31 goals during the regular season ... Brothers Matt and Nathan Davis of Miami (Ohio) have scored in the same game six times this season ... Boston University won its first outright Hockey East regular-season championship since the 1999-2000 season ... Wisconsin goalie Brian Elliott is 20-4-3 with a 1.76 goals-against average and a .931 saves percentage. He ranks second nationally in GAA, third in saves percentage and first in winning percentage.

National Collegiate Women’s Ice Hockey Championship

Dates and sites: Regional play is March 17 and 19 at campus sites. The Women’s Frozen Four is March 24 and 26 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis.

Field: Eight teams.

Selection date: March 12.

2005 champion: Minnesota.

Top contenders: New Hampshire, St. Lawrence, Minnesota, Wisconsin.

Championship notes: New Hampshire captured its first Hockey East title this season ... St. Lawrence’s goalie combination of senior Jessica Moffat and sophomore Meaghan Guckian has allowed three or more goals only four times this season. They both are in the top five nationally in save percentage, goals-against average and winning percentage ... Minnesota is the two-time defending national champion ... Wisconsin coach Mark Johnson, the leading scorer on the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, has led the Badgers to a school-record number of wins in each of his four seasons leading the program.

Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Dates and site: The national meet is March 23-25 at Georgia Tech.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 270. All qualifiers who have made 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.

2005 team champion: Auburn.

Top team contenders: Auburn, California, Stanford, Florida and Texas were the top five in the March 3 CollegeSwimming.com poll.

Championships notes: Stanford won its 25th consecutive Pacific-10 Conference title March 4. Junior Hongzhe Sun won three events. California finished second, followed by Southern California. The Trojans’ Viktor Bodrogi broke a 19-year-old league record in the 200-yard butterfly. The California team of William Copeland, Jernej Godec, Jonas Tilly and Milorad Cavic won the meet’s 400-yard freestyle relay ... Auburn took the Southeastern Conference championship for a 10th time, but Georgia’s Sebastien Rouault won three events. The Bulldogs finished third in the meet behind Florida.

Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships

Dates and site: The national meet is March 16-18 at Georgia.

Field: The maximum number of participants allowed is 322. All qualifiers who have made 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.

2005 team champion: Georgia.

Top team contenders: Georgia, Auburn, California, Stanford and Florida were the top five in the March 3 CollegeSwimming.com poll.

Championships notes: Georgia earned its first Southeastern Conference title with a 19-point win over Auburn February 18. Florida was third. The Bulldogs feature senior Mary DeScenza, who has never lost an SEC butterfly event, and freestyle sprinter Kara Lynn Joyce ... Arizona, which won three of the five relays, took the Pacific-10 Conference meet over UCLA and Stanford. Southern California freshman Rebecca Soni was named swimmer of the meet after winning both breaststrokes. “I was surprised — I’m not going to lie,” she said afterward ... Texas features six-time all-Americans Elizabeth Tinnon (breaststroke and medleys) and Kristy Siminski (freestyle).