(8) Gonzaga Bulldogs: Gonzaga is headed for its 12th consecutive NCAA Tournament after starting the season outside of the Top 25 and losing four starters from last year's team to professional basketball.  Freshman forward Elias Harris came out of relative obscurity to help the Gonzaga win its tenth consecutive West Coast Conference Championship and playing his way into the first round of the 2010 NBA Draft.  Harris, along with senior Matt Bouldin and junior Steven Gray, earned first team All-WCC honors this season while leading the team in rebounding and finishing second (behind Bouldin) in scoring at 14.7 points per game.  This was thought to be a re-building year for Gonzaga and, in some ways, it has been.  The Zags, while playing one of the most difficult non-conference schedules in the country, have only one win outside of WCC play against an RPI Top 25 team (74-61 over Wisconsin on a neutral court on Nov. 24) and have two miserable losses (RPI No. 204 San Francisco and RPI No. 176 Loyola-Marymount).

(9) Florida State Seminoles: Leonard Hamilton has one of deepest rotations in the country, playing nine players at least 13 minutes per game and getting after it defensively.  Florida State leads the nation in field goal percentage defense and ranks inside the top 28 in four other defensive categories, steals per game (8.4), blocked shots per game (6.3), rebound margin (5.2) and scoring defense (60.2).   Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton form arguably the nation's best pair of defensive big men, combining for nearly four blocks and three steals per game while helping the Seminoles to a 22-9 (10-6 ACC) record.  Florida State lacks a statement win on it resume, but did sweep the season series with Georgia Tech.  On the other hand, the Seminoles went 0-3 against the RPI Top 25 and were swept by a North Carolina State team that won just five games in the ACC this year.     

HOOPSWORLD's pick: Gonzaga. The Bulldogs will push the pace, using early offense and transition buckets to take Florida State's inside duo of Solomon Alabi and Chris Singleton out of the game.

HOOPSWORLD's senior college analyst Luke Byrnes also contributed to this preview.