Here are the Top 10 schools according to the three major ranking groups:

In the AP rankings Butler is number 11 while the number 11 in the USA Today/ESPN rankings is Stanford. Obviously the three organizations don’t have many differences in terms of how they see the top 10 (and nearly in the top 10) schools in the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament.

All three organizations have the North Carolina Tar Heels as their consensus Number 1 team. Coach Roy Williams has done a fantastic job getting his Tar Heels through a rough season of injuries, foul trouble and conference opponents who simply are no longer going down as easily as they used to. They cruised through Florida State 82-70, then narrowly beat Virginia Tech 68-66, then Clemson 86-81 to finish 32-2 and win the ACC Crown. That gives them their first four tournament games in-state, two at Raleigh and the next two at Charlotte.

6-foot-9 forward-center Tyler Hansbrough is surrounded by three of the best perimeter players in the country: pointguard Ty Lawson, guard Wayne Ellington and swingman Danny Green. If these three can keep shooting well from the perimeter and helping with the weakside defense, the Tar Heels are a lock to make their umpteenth trip to the NCAA Finals. In their tough games against VA Tech and the Tigers the three wingmen could not seem to find a steady rhythm, forcing Hansbrough to try and carry the team on his own for certain stretches.

Interestingly enough AP and USA Today/ESPN have Memphis and UCLA as their number 2 or 3. But these teams are different from each other, taking different approaches to the game, and playing in very different conferences in terms of depth and talent.

Memphis plays in Conference USA and easily won their conference title by walloping Tulane, Southern Miss and Tulsa in successive blowouts. Coach John Calipari can have his Tigers playing fast or slowing it down, and he has been simply terrific at getting the best from his guys in a 32-1 season including a 1-2 seeding going into the nationals.

Memphis may have the best backcourt in college basketball with 6-foot-3 freshman sensation Derrick Rose at the point and 6-foot-7 junior Chris Douglas-Roberts playing off the ball. Both are versatile and athletic and can score in a variety of ways. 6-foot-9 center-forward Joey Dorsey and 6-foot-9 forward Rob Dozier are hardworking glass cleaners off both boards but need to find some offense. Establishing some kind of inside game will be key if the Tigers want to progress beyond their recent Elite 8 finishes.

Over here in the City of Angels, arguably the most successful college basketball program in the country is riding – quite literally – on the back of one of the nation’s most heralded freshmen, 6-foot-10 center Kevin “Gimme Some” Love. Love might have pulled something in the PAC-10 conference finals against Stanford. UCLA has shown nerves of steel in winning the PAC-10. They edged OJ Mayo and USC in the semis then the Lopez Twins and Stanford to take the title. Both games were close and UCLA had to dig deep to pull out those victories.

Coach Ben Howland has kept a relatively young team focused and the Bruins have responded well. Whip-quick pointguard Darren Collison was a revelation in the finals against Stanford, dissecting the defense of the Cardinal and finishing with 28 points, his best career game. Swingman Josh Shipp and guard Russell Westbrook have been steady as well, making sure defenses do not all collapse on Love.

Another injury of concern to the Bruins is Luc Mbah A Moute, the blue collar power forward from Cameroon. With Mbah A Moute around, Love does not have to man the inside all by himself, and the wingmen have a strong trailer on transition serving as insurance just in case a fastbreak goes awry. If he comes back even to just 80% then UCLA may just wind up meeting North Carolina for the national title.