March Madness: Three things to know about NCAA tournament on Monday

1. ACC-ELLENCE: The Atlantic Coast Conference has tied a record by placing five teams in the Sweet 16. That's 31% of the remaining field. And the league is guaranteed at least one team in the Elite Eight, with North Carolina State and Louisville playing for that spot on Friday on the home court of another league member, Syracuse.

The league is 11-1, with only Virginia falling so far. On Thursday Notre Dame and North Carolina play Wichita State and Wisconsin, respectively, and in addition to that N.C. State-Louisville matchup on Friday, Duke plays Utah.

2. SEEDING THE BRACKET: The Cinderellas have left the ball and nestled the equipment away for another season. That's reflected in the average seed remaining, which is 4.375. That makes this the chalkiest group of regional semifinalists we've seen since 2009, when the average surviving seed was 3.063. That year every 1, 2 and 3 seed made it to the Sweet 16, something never seen before or since.

3. FORDING THE OHIO RIVER: It is true that Kentucky will never play a game in this tournament outside its own state or outside a state that does not border its own. But that does not mean that its Midwest Region semifinal Thursday in Cleveland is going to be another pseudo home game. Kentucky fans will cross the Ohio River en route to Cleveland, as will West Virginia fans some 350 miles upstream.

Though Kentucky will enjoy three full days to prepare for the Mountaineers' press, those West Virginia fans will take some solace in the fact that their team's coach, Bob Huggins, is 8-2 all-time vs. John Calipari. Their most recent meeting also came in the NCAA tournament, with Calipari's Kentucky team winning en route to the 2011 Final Four. Amazingly, the coaches saw this coming.