The benefits of going to Charlotte:

* It's the only site with all four top seeds intact.

* I'm 3,000 miles or so away from angry West Virginia fans, who really shouldn't be angry that they're in Phoenix. Or that they lost a coach in John Beilein who might be one of the top 10 coaches in the country in terms of preparation and managed to go hire another one of the top 10 coaches in the country in terms of preparation.

* Rick Pitino and Bruce Pearl will operate on opposite sidelines on Thursday night.

* Ty Lawson, Tyler Hansbrough, Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver will all be on the floor at the same time.

* North Carolina could continue doing its Loyola Marymount imitation in the regional final; it's difficult to see the Tar Heels topping 100 points against Washington State.

* Charlotte has a Cabo Fish Taco. Yum!

* Davidson College is about 25 miles or so away from Bobcats Arena.

The bad side of going to Charlotte:

* Davidson College's basketball team will be in Detroit.

* There's no true underdog story left, not even Washington State.

* Charlotte's airport carries bad memories for me, though I'm circumventing that by flying to Raleigh and driving across the state tomorrow morning.

So all in all, it's a pretty good site, filled with promises of good basketball and great storylines. I'll have more tomorrow from Bobcats Arena, a place I've become quite familiar with over the last few months.

And as a frequent traveler, that's a nice benefit, too.

--- Patrick Stevens