At the beginning of the season, there was quite a bit of debate and criticism around other message boards regarding scheduling. I noticed a blurb at the end of an LA times article Saturday (link: http://www.latimes.com/sports/college/ucla/la-sp-uclahoops24mar24,1,6559632.story) that mentioned UCLA has a record of 7-1 against other regional semifinalists (including 5-0 PAC-10, 2-1 nonconference). I think that, along with Texas' wins over UCLA and Tennessee, is one of the more impressive resumes left in the field. Also, the other 3 number one seeds combined have a whopping record of 2-2 against remaining regional semifinalists.
I believe that Coach Howland has earned our trust regarding nonconference scheduling.
Here are the records of the remaining 15 teams against the other current regional semifinalists:
EAST
North Carolina, 1-0, Davidson
Washington State 0-5 (Stanford 3, UCLA 2)
Louisville 2-0 (WV, 'Nova)
Tennessee 4-1 (W: Memphis, WK, WV, Xavier L: Texas)
MIDWEST
Kansas: 1-1 (Split w/Texas)
Villanova 1-1 (W: West Virginia, L: Louisville)
Wisconsin 3-0 (MSU twice, Texas)
Davidson 0-2 (UCLA, UNC)
SOUTH
Memphis 0-1 (Tennessee)
Mich State 1-3 (W: Texas, L: UCLA, Wisconsin x 2)
Stanford 3-3 (Washington State 3, UCLA 3-interestingly, it would have been 2-4 had Siena pulled it out over 'Nova)
Texas 3-3 (W: Kansas, UCLA, Tennessee, L: Kansas,
Mich State, Wisconsin)
WEST
Western Kentucky 0-1 (Tennessee)
Xavier 0-1, Tennessee
West Virginia 0-3 (Tennessee, Louisville, 'Nova)
Here are the number of nonconference games that each team had scheduled against the current regional semifinalists:
Tennessee 5
Texas 4
UCLA 3
Davidson 2
Mich State 2
Western Kentucky 1
Xavier 1
Wisconsin 1
Memphis 1
North Carolina 1
West Virginia 1
Washington State 0
Louisville 0
Kansas 0
Villanova 0
Stanford 0