INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA selection committee started a debate when it made Saint Joseph's a No. 1 seed in the tournament. The Hawks hope to silence the critics and prove they were worthy of a top spot.

"The body of work was honored," Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said.

Saint Joseph's joined Kentucky, Duke and Stanford as the four No. 1 seeds, and it sparked a nasty argument between Martelli and CBS commentator Billy Packer.

"Everyone has their opinion," said Karl Benson, commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference and a selection committee member. "What is said after the selections and during the week adds to the flavor of the tournament."

While controversy is an annual part of the selection process, the heated exchange between Martelli and Packer was a little different.

The Hawks (27-1) didn't even have time to celebrate getting their first top seed in school history before Packer started questioning whether Saint Joseph's belonged in the same company of other top seeds after losing to Xavier by 20 points in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Martelli responded by calling Packer a "jackass," and Packer countered by saying he helped Wake Forest beat Saint Joseph's in the 1962 tournament.

"He needs to learn a little history about the school where he coaches," Packer said.

Martelli seemed more concerned about trying to prove Packer - and others - wrong when the Philadelphia school opens play Thursday against Liberty (18-14) in Buffalo, N.Y.

The other top seeds in the East Rutherford (N.J.) regional are Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh and Wake Forest.

The Hawks would meet either Texas Tech or Charlotte in the second round, a game that would send Red Raiders coach Bob Knight back to Buffalo, the site of his final game as Indiana's coach in the 2000 tournament.

Kentucky earned the overall top spot in the St. Louis Regional, followed by Duke in Atlanta, Stanford in Phoenix and Saint Joseph's.

The St. Louis and East Rutherford regional winners will meet in the national semifinals.

Selection committee chairman Bob Bowlsby contended Saint Joseph's earned a No. 1 seed not because it had won 27 straight games or had a high ranking in the Ratings Percentage Index.

"I don't think the committee got caught up in the fact they were unbeaten," Bowlsby said. "They played not just a good schedule, but the No. 1 schedule and I think that's worth something."

The late-season losses didn't seem to affect the NCAA's top line much. The late start times for Sunday's championship games might have.

Duke dropped from the top overall seed to second after losing to Maryland in overtime of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. Stanford, which lost its only game of the season March 6, was third overall and, of course, there was Saint Joseph's.

Bowlsby said the committee considered as many as nine teams for No. 1 seeds, including Oklahoma State, which won the Big 12 title Sunday.

The game's late finish, though, prevented the Cowboys from claiming a top seed.

"We have to complete the seeding process at some point and put the teams in the bracket," Bowlsby said. "We can't implement those things at the last minute, so anything that gets over after about 4 p.m. makes it really, really difficult for us."

The tournament begins Tuesday night with the play-in game in Dayton, Ohio, between Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champion Florida A&M (14-16) and Patriot League champion Lehigh (20-10). That winner faces Kentucky (26-4) on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

Duke (27-5), a No. 1 seed for the sixth time in seven years, opens against Alabama State on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C. The No. 2 seed in the Atlanta regional is Mississippi State.

Pac-10 champion Stanford (29-1) meets Texas-San Antonio on Thursday in Seattle. The Cardinal are a No. 1 seed for the third time in five years. The other top seeds in the regional are Connecticut, North Carolina State and Maryland.

Maryland, the 2002 NCAA champion, didn't look like a tournament team two weeks ago, but the Terrapins' run through the Nos. 3, 2 and 1 seeds in the ACC moved them to a No. 4 seed despite 11 losses.

"I'm not sure anyone in the country is playing better basketball right now than Maryland," Bowlsby said.

Syracuse, the defending national champion, is the No. 5 seed in the Phoenix regional.

Pittsburgh seemed to get a bad break from the "pod" system. The Panthers open against Central Florida but then could face Wisconsin in the second round in Milwaukee, about an hour from the Badgers' Madison campus.

Arizona continues the longest current appearance streak. The Wildcats have been in every NCAA tournament since 1985. Indiana had the second-longest streak - since 1986 - but that's over.

The Hoosiers and perennial powers Georgetown, UCLA and St. John's are all out of the tournament this year.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Conference USA and Southeastern Conference each got six teams into the tournament. The Atlantic 10 and Big 12 each had four chosen.

Only one team - Eastern Washington, the Big Sky tournament champion - is making its first appearance in the tournament.

Air Force, the Mountain West regular-season champion, had the longest drought among teams that previously played in the tournament, making the field for the first time since 1962.

Some of those left out were Colorado, Missouri, Florida State and Utah State.

Florida A&M is the only sub-.500 team in the field. The Rattlers were 12-18 in their only other NCAA appearance in 1999.

The regionals are March 25-28 and the Final Four is in San Antonio on April 3 and 5.