PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SAUL LOEB

The West regional semifinals feature three coaches that boast a combined 16 Final Four appearances and four NCAA National titles, along with third year Notre Dame head coach looking for his first of each

Mike Brey must feel a little out of place.

The third year Notre Dame head coach is taking his Fighting Irish team into unfamiliar territory, making it's first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 1987.

Meeting him there are three coaches ÷ Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Kansas' Roy Williams and Arizona's Lute Olson ÷ whose seasons are considered disappointments if they don't make it past the first weekend of tournament play.

But does the 44-year-old feel out of place against the coaching legends' teams?

Absolutely not.

"I think that we do belong," said Brey who reached a gaudy six Final Fours in eight years, while winning two titles, as a Duke assistant under Krzyzewski. "We are thought of in that mix now with these three years and the step that we took in Indianapolis."

Even after all the talk came out about how tough the West bracket was, Brey wasn't concerned. He actually was hoping it would turn out like it did, considering the physical nature of the teams Notre Dame would ultimately be up against.

"When the bracket came out, everybody went off about the West bracket: ÎOh, my God, it's loaded,' or whatever," Brey said. "Before we even played a game, I looked at it and said, ÎI do like the builds on the teams. It was a lot of basketball players. There was not the Pittsburgh/Kentucky bulk in our bracket.'"

Olson, on the other hand, has said from the start that the West's bracket was the toughest, but his stance shifted slightly Monday when he looked around at the other regions and said there weren't any cakewalks.

"I don't see many soft touches anywhere," Olson said. "It's obvious to begin with that there were a lot of big name schools in the West, but then you look at the other regions and you're seeing outstanding teams at each of those sites as well."

But Olson is still surprised at who the two teams are that are scheduled to play after the Wildcats and Irish face off on Thursday.

"To have Roy (Williams) and Coach K meeting in a Sweet 16 game, that's one that you could look at as a national championship game in any other year," Olson said.

UA senior Rick Anderson agreed.

"That would be a good Final Four right there," he said about the four teams playing in Anaheim. "But it's going to be a big challenge for us."

Brey's Notre Dame team seems to be ready for the challenge ahead, or at least prepared for it. The Irish have five wins over top 10 opponents (Texas, Maryland, Marquette, Pittsburgh and Illinois).

"Playing those teams helped us," Notre Dame senior Matt Carroll said. "We had a very tough schedule, and we realized we can beat any team in the country any given day. And I think that's why we are playing with so much confidence now."

Notre Dame is not the only team with confidence. The 15 other teams still left standing after a wild opening weekend have all won at least two games in a row, and all believe they have a chance to push that streak toward the magic number of six.

So if Arizona's streak gets pushed to three, which team does UA senior and floor-leader Jason Gardner want to see?

He said he doesn't care, but did say, "I'm sure a lot of people in Tucson want to see Duke."

Only time will tell.