The winner of the Duke/UNC on-court skirmish(es) (as opposed to the media war of words) and therefore likely ACC champ may not want to buy those Charlotte regional tickets quite yet.

It's been widely accepted as fact that whoever comes out ahead in the ACC between the Devils and Heels would get the backyard Raleigh/Charlotte path. However, if you look at our distance chart, you'll see that a certain school in Knoxville is closer to Charlotte than to any other regional site.

With a win over Memphis (or even a close loss) Saturday and a strong SEC finish, the Vols could finish ahead of the ACC champ on the S-Curve. Since the regional sites are assigned in S-Curve order, that would give Tennessee the edge in being assigned to Charlotte.

Interesting, you may say, but that's not even the best part. Either Duke or UNC - but likely not both barring Kansas and UCLA meltdowns - will probably end up as a #1 seed. If Tennessee falls ahead of a #1 seed Duke/UNC on the S-Curve, the Vols would go to Charlotte and Duke/UNC would head west.

When it comes time to assign the #2 seeds to regions, guess who would be closest to Charlotte? That's right - the Duke/UNC victor gets the spoils of heading west and the loser stays home in Charlotte. I wonder how Coach K or Roy will react to that.

Having grown up in the Triangle, I find the irony delicious as a plate of Carolina barbecue (the Eastern NC kind, thank you very much) and hush puppies.