WHAT TO LOOK FOR

* The draw: The bracket, the geography and even the calendar bode well for Stanford. This year, Casey Jacobsen’s birthday falls on Monday: There’ll be no repeat of his two-for-12 birthday disaster last March 19 in the loss to North Carolina. The Cardinal should have an easy time in San Diego before facing moderate challenges at the West regional in Anaheim, with Maryland looming as the biggest threat. Much of the intrigue this week is in Boise, Idaho, where Lefty Driesell tries to get Georgia State past dull but deadly Wisconsin to set up a game against Maryland, the left-hander’s former stamping ground.

* Best first-round game: Arkansas-Georgetown sounds more like a Final Four game than a first-round matchup Thursday in Boise. The intensity of the Razorback and Hoya styles and traditions ought to make fans dig out T-shirts from the glory days. Another eye-catcher: Cincinnati against Brigham Young.

* Sleeper: Maryland. That two-point loss to Duke in a semifinal game looked all the more impressive after Duke defeated North Carolina by 26 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament final the next day. The third-seeded Terrapins have a classic hot-down-the-stretch profile. Indiana, with its Big Ten tournament run, also was good down the stretch.

* Upset in the making: The words “Cincinnati” and “upset” just seem to belong in the same sentence. Although Steve Logan and Kenny Satterfield are an excellent guard tandem, the fifth-seeded Bearcats aren’t the dominant team they have been. No. 12 Brigham Young has two big things in its favor--6-9 Mekeli Wesley and the best free-throw shooting in the tournament, 78%.

* Impact coach: Stanford’s Mike Montgomery. No coach in the tournament has won more games than Driesell, whose 761 rank him just ahead of Fresno State’s Jerry Tarkanian. But the impact coach of the West regional is Montgomery, a Long Beach native who has an opportunity to reach the Final Four without leaving the state--hopping from Palo Alto to San Diego to Anaheim. He has been hailed for turning Stanford back into a basketball power, but he has something to prove after consecutive second-round losses after the 1998 trip to the Final Four.

* Impact player: Jacobsen. The Cardinal is an ensemble cast--Jarron Collins is another Wooden Award candidate--but eyes will be on Jacobsen to prove his tournament mettle after last year’s misfire. Others to keep in mind: Maryland’s Juan Dixon, Iowa State’s Jamaal Tinsley, Indiana’s Kirk Haston, Arkansas’ Joe Johnson, St. Joseph’s Jameer Nelson and lesser-known Tarvis Williams of Hampton, one of the top 10 scorers in the nation and one of the leading shot-blockers. Catch him quickly, he probably won’t be around long.

* The pick: Stanford. The West is loaded with schools with power names--Indiana, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Arkansas--but Stanford is the one with the power game this year. And what’s to get excited about Indiana without Bob Knight, or Georgetown without John Thompson? Whether Maryland or some other upstart sends the Cardinal home early again is the question. With such expectations, if Stanford fails to reach the Final Four, its basketball stock will plunge like some of those other Palo Alto start-ups.