By The Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - The Pittsburgh Panthers were not nearly as miffed at their seeding in the NCAA tournament as others were.

Most college basketball fans and plenty if pundits thought Pitt should have been higher than a No. 3 seed in the Atlanta Regional.

The Panthers, after all, were the regular-season Big East champions, ranked ninth in the country and winners of seven of their last nine games coming into the tournament.

And if their seed wasn't insult enough, Pittsburgh was sent to Milwaukee instead of Buffalo, N.Y., or Columbus, Ohio. That put them on course for Sunday's second-round matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers, who may as well have been playing a home game at the Bradley Center.

But the Panthers weren't fazed by any of it.

Ask them about their seed, and they said they were just happy to be in the tournament. Ask them about playing in Wisconsin's back yard, and they said they liked road games. They even had T-shirts made up with the slogan, "We All We Got."

"In our minds, we were going to put the emphasis and energy in preparing for (first-round opponent) Central Florida and Wisconsin," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "We weren't going to waste our energy in what the draw was or where we ended up. It was beyond our control."

And in the end, the Panthers had the last laugh, beating Wisconsin 59-55 on Sunday to move on to their third straight appearance in the Round of 16.

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YOUNG TERPS: Maryland made a great late-season run to get into the NCAA tournament. The Terrapins look like they'll be a postseason fixture for a few years.

Fielding a team with only one senior, five freshmen and four sophomores, coach Gary Williams did a masterful job of milking every last drop of talent and energy from his youngest team in a decade.

The Terps were eliminated from the tournament Saturday by Syracuse, 72-70.

After losing four of five to fall to 14-11 overall and 5-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Maryland closed the regular season with two straight gritty wins to virtually assure an 11th straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

Then the Terps, seeded sixth in the ACC tournament, knocked off Wake Forest, rallied from 19 down to beat North Carolina State and came back again to beat Duke and win the ACC tournament.

"That weekend was probably the most incredible as a package that I've ever experienced as a basketball coach," Williams said.

After beating Texas El-Paso to earn their eighth straight 20-win season, the Terps (20-12) bowed out against Syracuse. But they walked off the court with absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about.

"We think we have our identity," freshman D.J. Strawberry said. "We have to play an up-tempo game. We don't need to play pretty, and it doesn't need to look nice. We just need to go out and get wins."

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FAVORITE FLOOR: The Fighting Illini wish they'd dismantle Ohio State's court and ship it off to the Georgia Dome. They've created a little bit of history on the scarlet and gray floor.

Illinois clinched its first Big Ten regular season title since 1952 by beating Ohio State 64-63 on the Buckeyes' court earlier this month.

The NCAA moved the court to Columbus' hockey arena for the first two rounds of the tournament. In both games, things went very well for the Illini, culminating in a 92-68 victory over Cincinnati on Sunday.

They shot a season-high 63.6 percent against the Bearcats, looking right at home on a floor that has an Ohio State logo at midcourt and "Buckeyes" behind each baseline.

"I like the rims," guard Dee Brown said. "I like the court. This is where we won the Big Ten title."

They left for Atlanta and a matchup with Duke on Friday.

The court stayed behind.

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LEAVING EARLY: Mississippi State's school-best third straight NCAA tournament appearance ended much like the others.

The second-seeded Bulldogs were bounced from the tournament by streaking Xavier 89-74.

Last year, Mississippi State was a No. 5 seed when it lost in the first round to upstart Butler, a 12th seed.

Two years ago, the Bulldogs couldn't make it past the first weekend as a three seed. Sixth-seeded Texas knocked out Mississippi State that year in a game played in Dallas.

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WHOOPS: UAB came ready to play against top-seeded Kentucky, except for forward Sidney Ball.

After player introductions, the Blazers' senior forward took off his warmup top and realized he had forgotten to put on his No. 32 game jersey. The opening tap was then delayed so he could run back to the locker room and slip it on.

The gaffe wasn't even mentioned a few hours later after UAB stunned the Wildcats 76-75.

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COINCIDENCE?: St. Joseph's will get a chance to prove itself to Billy Packer in person.

The Hawks, criticized by Packer as not worthy of a No. 1 seed, will play Wake Forest on Thursday in the East Rutherford Regional. Packer, a star for the Demon Deacons in the early 1960s, will broadcast the game for CBS.