History has been made at the NCAA men’s basketball Tournament. All four No. 1 seeds are in the Final Four.

This year’s top seeds happen to be four outstanding basketball teams. But their perilous journey to get here explains why this has never been done before. In the Elite Eight round, Kansas (-9.5) held off the plucky No. 10 Davidson Wildcats 59-57. After earlier scares for UCLA and Memphis, that leaves the North Carolina Tar Heels as the only team taking a 4-0 ATS record into the Final Four.

North Carolina has shown no mercy during March Madness. Their 83-73 win over the very strong Louisville Cardinals (-5.5) wasn’t without its rough patches, as the Cards erased a 12-point halftime deficit to tie the score. This time, though, the Tar Heels stood firm and pulled away at the end. Last year’s loss to Georgetown must have inspired them – or perhaps it was the fans in Raleigh and Charlotte.

We knew Davidson was good. But to beat Georgetown as a 4.5-point puppy? That was the highlight of the men’s college basketball Tournament’s second round – at least from a basketball betting standpoint. The Wildcats were 17-10 ATS during the regular season, and are rolling into the Sweet 16 at 4-1 ATS in tourney action.

From a fan standpoint, the too-early elimination of the Duke Blue Devils for the second year in a row will be cause for celebration in many parts. Duke was bounced by underappreciated West Virginia (+4) after barely squeezing by Belmont (+20) in the first round.

The carnage nearly spread from Duke to fellow top-tier programs Memphis, UCLA, Texas and Tennessee, but all four clawed their way into the Sweet 16. Stanford and Marquette went toe-to-toe before the Cardinal (-2.5) escaped by a single point in overtime. And the Tar Heels? 108-77 over Arkansas (-9.5). Perhaps Indiana saw this coming and pulled the cord in the first round.

Selection Sunday has come and gone. No surprises with the top four seeds: UCLA, Kansas, North Carolina and Memphis. Ah, but nothing will come easy for any of those four.

My inclination on a per-game basis is to fade North Carolina and support Kansas. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 1 in the polls and the Jayhawks are fifth, but they swap positions in the Pomeroy efficiency rankings. Wisconsin got hosed with a No. 3 seed despite ranking fourth in efficiency and winning the Big Ten. And what about Kansas State (No. 15 Pomeroy) with an 11-seed?

Otherwise, the low-major spoilers are always worth our betting attention. Davidson drew a tough assignment against Gonzaga (+1.5), though, so I’m looking at St. Mary’s over Miami (-2).

Oh, and the UCLA Bruins to win it all. Not a good value at 7-2, but this is a prediction, not a pick. For value, I like the aforementioned Badgers at 25-1.

If you ask a few people which teams are likely to pay out in your March Madness betting pool you’ll probably be bombarded by the same answers over and over: North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas, Tennessee and Memphis will likely come up in every conversation around the water-cooler.

Anybody can tell you that you should be on the Top 5 schools in the nation. The hard part is picking the teams that could pull off the upset. A team you’ll want to remember come tourney time is Drake. The Bulldogs earned their tourney spot over the weekend by rolling through the Missouri Valley tourney over the weekend. That included destroying Illinois State 79-49 in the tourney final.

Bulldogs’ guard Adam Emmenecker was named the MVC Player of the Year, but he’s not the only player opposing teams have to worry about when they face Drake. John Young, Leonard Houston and Jonathan Cox can all score as well and could lead the Bulldogs deep into the tournament.

Tiger Woods showed up for the 2008 golf “season” with a questionable goatee and the shine of being a new father. How’s that working out for him? He’s participated in just two events thus far, but Woods won both of them and leads the PGA Tour Money list with nearly $2.3 million.

It’s becoming harder and harder not to call Woods the greatest golfer of all-time. All he has to do to become the consensus G.O.A.T. is break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors on the PGA Tour – Woods has 13 heading into the 2008 season, at the ripe old age of 32. When Woods is on his game, there’s nothing for handicappers to do but hit the easy button and bet on Tiger.

But calling golf itself the greatest game? Equipment is expensive, keeping the courses a lush green pollutes the environment, and there are still clubhouses that don’t take kindly to people like Woods. Not so great then is it?