Quote Originally Posted by Cameron View Post
I'm almost positive that this is exactly correct. There are no rules against two conference teams being seeded one and two in the same region. As long as they are not in the same bottom or top half of the regional bracket, it's all fair game.

I wouldn't put it past the committee to "move in the direction" of a Duke-Carolina regional final for a second. What television drama that would make for the NCAAs ratings. Let's not kid ourselves here, ratings and hype are certainly taken into consideration during the committee's selection. Duke-Kentucky anyone? How many times have they tried to recreate the famous '92 East Regional? Ad nauseam.
No, Duke and Carolina cannot be placed in the same region. The first three teams selected from each conference must be placed in different regions. When a conference has more than three teams in the tournament, the committee tries to seed the teams so that they cannot meet until the regional final. Before 2006, this was an absolute rule. However, in the summer of 2005, the NCAA changed its rules to allow intraconference matchups as early as the second round of the tournament, assuming all measures to keep the teams apart until the regional finals have been exhausted. But still, the first three team selected from each conference must be placed in different regions.