But its real goal is the mythical national championship, settled by coaches' and writers' polls and computer ratings rather than two teams meeting on the field.

In fact, computer ratings have continued to go up.

Mister Martin, what is your computer rating?

With the seeded positions duplicating the current international computer ratings for both men's and women's singles, the draw produced no surprises.

It is No. 2 in The New York Times's computer rating.

In the final rankings and computer ratings for last season, Iowa (10-1-1) ranged from 10th to 13th, and North Carolina State (9-3) barely made the top 25.

They are No. 4 in The New York Times's computer ratings and No. 6 in the Associated Press poll.

The league has just one school, top-seeded Villanova, listed among the top 37 teams in the computer rating used by the N.C.A.A. tournament committee.

Among them are the various published polls and computer ratings, as well as the commitee's own sophisticated computer analysis of the teams.

Like a handful of others, Ken Pomeroy, a 32-year-old meteorologist in Cheyenne, Wyo., devised his computer ratings years ago.