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In the echo chamber, where no one can hear you because everyone's talking at the same time, the reaction was swift and immediate. In the brief seconds after the NCAA tournament field was announced Sunday night, the noise rose as a national outcry.

Conspiracy! To which most everyone with any working knowledge of basketball replied accordingly.

Shut up.

Duke is dancing again, and everyone in America has an opinion about it. And while many of the opinions originate in the fevered minds of those employed by the World Wide Leader in Sports, the rest seem to seep out of odd corners and the one place on earth that doesn't get a say this year.

Chapel Hill.

It gets so old. Nobody thinks the NCAA conspires to take care of Kansas or Kentucky. Nobody dreams up back-room theories about UCLA or Indiana or even Carolina. But give Duke a top seed in the South, throw in a few Big East apologists and, presto, you have a villain.

You also have a pretty good team atop the South Region, which is a pretty good region. But why let facts get in the way of a good theory? Let's just play the games. Duke might not win the national title, but it won't be because the No. 4 seed is Purdue.

One of the co-conspirators was Ron Wellman, the athletics director at Wake Forest. Wellman is hiding out this week in Jacksonville, Fla., so he can take care of the Blue Devils. Right. If the fans at Wake thought for one second that Wellman was trying to help Duke in any way, they would demand his head on a platter. He wouldn't be allowed back in the state.

"I would be evicted very quickly," he said.

Wellman scoffed at the idea that there was anything nefarious about the bids or the seeding for the tournament, but he agreed that there was plenty for the theorists to base their conspiracies on.

"There always is," he said. "Every year there's that outcry. For the talking heads to be happy, they have to have something negative. That's what creates interest for their shows."

Wellman said the committee worked 11 hours a day from Wednesday to Sunday, discussing, arguing, negotiating and voting on the bids, the seeds and the locations.

"There were differing opinions," he said. "Every vote wasn't unanimous."

There were no discussions of getting the best matchups for CBS, no discussions of softening Duke's path to the Final Four, no talk of tattoos or racial makeup or Q ratings or marketing strategies.

"I don't know that Duke's advancement is any easier than anyone else's," Wellman said. "It all comes down to matchups, and some teams just won't match up with others. We'll play the games and see."

Well, there's a novel idea. Let's play the games and then argue about who had the easiest draw, the softest regional, the least deserved seeding. Duke won the ACC regular season then won the ACC tournament. Even in a down year, though it's hard to argue this was a down year in the ACC when the last-place team won 20 games, a title sweep of the nation's most prestigious league counts for a lot.

Duke is there with Villanova, Baylor and Purdue, the top four seeds that have caused so much rancor. The fact is, Duke must get out of the first weekend before advancing toward the top seeds. And with Richmond, Notre Dame and Texas A&M also in the draw, it's not likely the top four seeds will advance anyway.

And besides, who really believes the top four seeds anywhere else are all that? Kentucky is followed by West Virginia, New Mexico and Wisconsin in the East, hardly a murderer's row. Syracuse gets K-State, Pitt and Vandy in the West. Throw those four in a hat and pull them out in any order, Syracuse included. In the Midwest, the top four are Kansas, Ohio State, Georgetown and Maryland. OK, that's a tough draw.

The prevailing wisdom, ahem, is that Kansas will survive all that and win the national championship. Maybe, maybe not. The conspirators believe Kentucky will get past West Virginia, Syracuse will beat Kansas State, and Duke will lose to Louisville in the second round.

I don't disagree with any of that. Except the last part. Duke won't lose to Louisville. Duke won't lose to anybody.

There, I said it. I'm picking Duke over Georgia Tech. Wait, that was last week. Duke over Kansas. It's a done deal. Wellman gave me the scoop.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com