Madness. Sadness. And, as long as teams like Duke and Connecticut are still hanging around, a whole lot of badness.

When the happy clutter of the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament was cleared, 16 teams were left to give testimony to the most surprising opening two rounds since 2000.

Sunday, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Kentucky, was ousted by Alabama-Birmingham, joining top-seeded Stanford on the sideline. Second-seeded Mississippi State knew Gonzaga’s misery, losing decisively to Xavier. That makes it four early “outs” among the top eight seeds in the tournament, most on the opening weekend in four years.

What remains are two regionals with a decisive favorite — Duke in Atlanta, and Connecticut in Phoenix. The highest remaining seed in St. Louis is No. 3 Georgia Tech because of the early exits of Kentucky and Gonzaga.

And East Rutherford looms as the most intriguing. All four of its top seeds remain, and two juicy matchups await Thursday night.

Saint Joseph’s (29-1) meets Wake Forest (21-9), pitting the player of the year in many precincts, St. Joe’s Jameer Nelson, against Wake’s Chris Paul, one of the top freshman point guards in the country.

The game would be interesting if only for that, but there’s also the televised chipping match on Selection Sunday, when CBS’s Billy Packer, a Wake Forest grad, dueled orally with Hawks coach Phil Martelli, belaboring an opinion that St. Joe’s didn’t deserve a No. 1 seed. And get this, Packer has been assigned to announce the game with partner Jim Nantz.

Also at East Rutherford are two threats to win it all, Pittsburgh and Oklahoma State. Pitt features a grinding half-court game and is No. 6 nationally in field-goal defense at 38.6 percent, while always hard-nosed Oklahoma State has stepped up the tempo this year, leading the Big 12 in scoring at 78.7 points a game while second only to Gonzaga nationally in field-goal percentage at .514.

When the bracket was announced, Washington wanted a shot at No. 1-seeded Kentucky, but it was UAB that got it, and the Blazers made good on the opportunity, using Mo Finley’s 17-foot jumper with 12 seconds left to oust the Wildcats Sunday. UAB hasn’t been in a Sweet 16 since it made a run to the Elite Eight in 1982.

Opposite the Blazers is No. 4 seed Kansas, which took advantage of friendly Kansas City and pulled away from Pacific Sunday to advance. That will pit Kansas’ size against UAB’s speed.

The other matchup in St. Louis is No. 3 Georgia Tech against 10th-seeded Nevada, the lowest remaining seed. Tech is led by a backcourt featuring B.J. Elder, Jarrett Jack and Arizona transfer Will Bynum.

In Atlanta, Illinois, Texas and Xavier will be trying to waylay Duke, the top seed. Duke gets No. 5 seed Illinois on Friday, the Illini fresh from a 92-68 stomping of No. 4 Cincinnati. No. 3 Texas, trying to repeat its 2003 Final Four appearance, meets one of the hottest teams around, Xavier. The Musketeers throttled Saint Joseph’s and swept to the Atlantic 10 title, then added wins over Louisville and Mississippi State.

Still kicking is the defending champion, Syracuse, which will throw its matchup zone at Alabama, a shocking winner here Saturday over Stanford. The Orangemen will be favored, and so will Connecticut over Vanderbilt, which would pit two Big East teams Saturday in Phoenix for a Final Four berth.

The Atlantic Coast Conference, computer-rated the best in college basketball this year, certified its strength by advancing four teams, while the Big 12 and Big East have three each. The Pac-10 was widely suspected of having one of its weaker years, and the league went out and proved it by winning one game, Stanford’s victory over Texas-San Antonio.

The SEC has a curious representation — Vanderbilt and Alabama, two of the lesser members of its six who made the NCAA. Meanwhile, its top two teams, Kentucky and Mississippi State, had disappointing finishes for the second straight year.

In 2003, Kentucky was popularly seen as a Final Four lock, but the Wildcats lost to Marquette in the regional final. Mississippi State was shown the door by 12th seed Butler last year and this time, the Bulldogs were thought to have a solid shot at the Final Four but are now at home.

Another team with some explaining to do is Cincinnati. In the last eight tournaments, six times seeded No. 4 or higher, the Bearcats have failed to get past the second round in all but 2001, when they made the Sweet 16.