Notre Dame's Mike Brey is the latest candidate to remove his name from Maryland's coaching search, the Washington Post reported Sunday. Consequently, one of the nation's best jobs will remain open until at least Monday. Where the search will turn next is unclear.

"I don’t believe it’s going to be a long process,” Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson told the paper on Sunday. “We’re doing our due diligence, making sure we’re going to hire the right person. ... We’re just not going to panic and pick somebody who might not be the best fit for Maryland. We’re going to look at the whole person. Here’s what I’m looking for: Someone with most, if not all, of the qualities Gary Williams possessed."

Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Villanova's Jay Wright and Arizona's Sean Miller have also removed their names from consideration, meaning four men who were obvious candidates have essentially passed on the opportunity to succeed Gary Williams -- the legendary coach who retired last Thursday after 22 seasons at the school. Maryland has also reportedly reached out to Butler's Brad Stevens in an informal manner. Stevens, though, rejected the overture, leaving Anderson as the latest in a long line of athletic directors to have trouble filling a high-profile basketball opening.

Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson is expected to soon meet with Arizona's Sean Miller about succeeding Gary Williams as the Terrapins' basketball coach, the Washington Post reported Friday. The paper added that there is "mutual interest" between the two sides.

Miller just finished his second season at Arizona by winning the Pac-10 and taking the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. He's losing Derrick Williams from that roster but should still have a team talented enough to be ranked in the preseason Top 25, which might make it tough to leave now. Still, the Maryland job is too good to ignore -- especially for a Pittsburgh native and former ACC assistant. So Miller will listen and consider coaching at a third school in a span of four years. He was at Xavier before moving to Arizona.

Notre Dame's Mike Brey is another serious candidate for the Maryland job.

According to sources, Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon and Villanova's Jay Wright are likely uninterested.

Williams retired Thursday after 22 seasons at the school.

He led Maryland to 14 NCAA tournaments and the 2002 national championship.

Maryland's search for Gary Williams' successor is underway and figures to center on some of the men connected to most high-profile openings over the past few years -- specifically Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon, Arizona's Sean Miller and Villanova's Jay Wright, multiple sources have told CBSSports.com.

Notre Dame's Mike Brey is also in the mix.

Brey is a Maryland native who would almost certainly take the job if offered, according to a source. But the same source said Dixon, Miller and Wright would probably have to make it clear to Maryland officials that they're uninterested before the ACC school moved that direction. The level of interest from Dixon, Miller and Wright varies and is unclear, though all three would at least take a phone call and listen, multiple sources told CBSSports.com, considering the Maryland job is widely viewed as one of the nation's best because of tradition, support and a rich recruiting base of Washington D.C. and Baltimore.

One thing worth noting is that Dixon has an existing and strong relationship with first-year Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson, who was previously the AD at Army when Dixon's sister, Maggie Dixon, was the school's women's basketball coach. She died from heart failure in April 2006 at the age of 28 just after completing her first season at Army. It should also be noted that Dixon has in recent years rejected multiple overtures to remain at Pittsburgh (most notably from Arizona, Southern California and North Carolina State), that Miller likely has a preseason top 20 team at Arizona and that Wright is a Philadelphia native who has passed on countless opportunities over the past five years. Those things could help the job fall to Brey or somebody like Minnesota's Tubby Smith or VCU's Shaka Smart.

Williams retired Thursday after 22 seasons at the school.

He led Maryland to 14 NCAA tournaments and the 2002 national championship.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Kyrie Irving's return has pushed Duke into the role of co-favorites in this NCAA tournament.

Sportsbook.com now lists Ohio State (+450), Kansas (+450) and Duke (+450) as the three co-favorites -- followed by Pittsburgh (+800), San Diego State (+1000) and Notre Dame (+1200). Meantime, Duke has even odds to win the West Regional even though a presumed Elite Eight matchup with San Diego State could feel like a road game in Anaheim.

Me?

I've still got SDSU winning the West Regional.

But I've also got Missouri and Vanderbilt in the Sweet 16.

So, yeah, Duke's probably in good shape.

NEW YORK -- Kemba Walker was terrific.

UAB was not.

Here's Thursday's Wrap-up to recap a busy day of college basketball.

Best game: Kemba Walker began things by delivering the shot of the postseason -- and possibly the entire season -- to give Connecticut a 76-74 victory over Pittsburgh and propel himself into Madison Square Garden lore. The New York kid wowed the New York crowd with a stepback jumper at the buzzer that got Pitt's Gary McGhee so crossed he'll likely refuse to ever again switch on a ball screen. Yes, it was that bad. And that great. Suddenly, Kemba at MSG is the best show going. A date with Syracuse in Friday's Big East semifinals is on deck.
 
Other best game: Kansas missed 20 of 25 3-point attempts against Oklahoma State and needed the Cowboys to miss a heave at the buzzer to escape with a 63-62 win in the Big 12 quarterfinals. Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar combined to go 2 of 14 from 3-point range for the Jayhawks. So on second thought, this wasn't really one of the best games in terms of beautiful basketball. But it was close. And close is usually fun.

Team whose dream remained alive: Colorado proved "it's hard to beat a team three times in a season" is among the dumbest things dumb people say by beating Kansas State for the third time this season. The Buffaloes have now beaten the Wildcats by scores of 74-66, 58-56 and, most recently, 87-75. So the third time was actually the easiest of all three times … and probably enough to ensure Colorado receives an at-large bid regardless of what happens against Kansas in Friday's Big 12 semifinals.

Team whose dream was crushed: UAB had a questionable resume despite winning Conference USA and entered the league tournament with work to do. Unfortunately for Mike Davis, the Blazers did not do the required work. They instead lost 75-70 to East Carolina in the C-USA quarterfinals. Where I'm from, that's called locking down an NIT bid.

Performance I hope you witnessed: Ben Hansbrough's 23-point, seven-assist effort in Notre Dame's 89-51 blowout of Cincinnati wasn't as highlight-worthy as Walker's memorable outing, but it was still an impressive performance for the Big East Player of the Year. Hansbrough was 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. He's the main reason why the Irish have gone from unranked in the preseason to the verge of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Performance I hope you missed: Jackson Emery took nine 3-pointers and missed eight of them. That's not a violation of BYU's Honor Code, but it ought to be. Yes, the Cougars overcame a halftime deficit and beat TCU 64-58 in the Mountain West quarters. But what they really did is provide another 40-minute sample that suggests they miss Brandon Davies just as much as most anticipated, and that's going to be an issue come Selection Sunday.

Three other things worth noting

1. Southern California's 70-56 victory over California means the Trojans have an opportunity to get a sixth top-50 win in Friday's Pac-10 semifinals against Arizona. But would that be enough? Honestly, I'm not sure. Because though the Trojans have better wins than most bubble teams, they also have worse losses -- specifically three outside of the top 200. My advice: Go for the automatic bid, Kevin O'Neill, just to be safe.

2. St. John's suffered more than a 79-73 loss to Syracuse in the Big East quarters. The Red Storm also lost D.J. Kennedy to a torn ACL that ended his season prematurely and will send Steve Lavin's team into the NCAA tournament short a key contributor. Kennedy was averaging 10.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.

3. Washington State's Klay Thompson returned from his one-game suspension and dropped 43 points in an 89-87 loss to Washington. So Thompson was high -- or at least in a car with a substance you use to get high -- last Thursday and the nation's highest scorer this Thursday. That's impressive.

Final thought: No team has ever lost its conference tournament opener and gone on to win the NCAA tournament.

You've heard that before, right?

You heard it when Pittsburgh lost to Connecticut, didn't you?

Of course you did. We all did. And though it's a statement that's 100 percent true, it's also misleading because it fails to recognize that we've never had a league as large and strong as the Big East that requires a true national title contender to open its league tournament with a game against a team the caliber of Connecticut. Bottom line, there are plenty of reasons to think Pitt won't win a national championship. But the fact that the Panthers lost to a nationally ranked UConn team on a ridiculous stepback jumper from an All-American on Thursday shouldn't be among them.

Notre Dame's win at Connecticut combined with Duke's loss at North Carolina pushed the Irish into a position where receiving a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament next Sunday is a realistic possibility. Mike Brey's team is now 25-5 with 10 top-50 RPI wins, no home losses and just one loss to a school with an RPI outside of the top 25. That's a strong body of work. The reward for it will come a week from today.

My four No. 1 seeds (at this moment) look like this:

• Ohio State
• Kansas
• Pittsburgh
• Notre Dame

... here's how my top four lines would look:

No. 1 seeds: Ohio State, Kansas, Pittsburgh, BYU
No. 2 seeds: Notre Dame, Duke, Purdue, Texas
No. 3 seeds: San Diego State, Wisconsin, Louisville, Syracuse
No. 4 seeds: St. John's, Connecticut, North Carolina, Florida

It started last Saturday when Ohio State fell at Wisconsin. Then Kansas lost at Kansas State on Monday. Then Georgetown lost at Connecticut on Wednesday while Wisconsin lost at Purdue. And then, on Saturday, Pittsburgh lost at St. John's, Notre Dame lost at West Virginia and Texas lost at Nebraska, meaning we've seen the schools ranked first, second, third, fourth, eighth, ninth and 10th in the latest AP poll lose over the past eight days.

Four of those losses were to unranked teams.

All of them were on the road.

So, more than anything, this stretch is a reminder that winning road games is difficult without exception. But it also highlights how vulnerable even the so-called best of the best are this season, and it should make for an interesting NCAA tournament because the top seeds aren't going to seem invincible. Assuming it's true that believing you can win is the first hurdle an underdog must jump, let's go ahead and acknowledge that the eight and nine seeds will have more realistic dreams than usual of the second weekend because they're going to see the one seeds as beatable.

Take the schools projected as one seeds now, for instance.

The Pittsburgh Panthers? They've lost to two currently unranked teams. The Texas Longhorns? They've lost to two currently unranked teams. The Kansas Jayhawks? They've lost to a currently unranked team. The Ohio State Buckeyes? Well, they haven't lost to any currently unranked teams. But they have played one-possession games with three currently unranked teams (Penn State, Northwestern and Minnesota), and that alone suggests they're capable of losing to almost anybody even if they beat almost everybody.

In other words, who's scary good?

Who scares you?

Though neither Kansas nor Kentucky made the Final Four last season, both were intimidating outfits heading into March Madness. Nobody wanted any part of those rosters, and it was a major surprise when the Jayhawks and Wildcats were eliminated early. This March nothing will be a surprise. Any of the one seeds could make the Final Four or lose in the opening weekend. Granted, the former is more likely than the latter. But I've seen enough so-called elite teams lose over the past week to know nothing is guaranteed.