However, evidence from previous finals shows no benefit for teams that did particularly well against nonconference opponents in the regular season.
If the mild-mannered Australian's team do fail on Saturday, then Potter will still have taken Saints to two successive Grand Finals - no mean feat for any coach.
Away from the thrills and spills of the women's quarter-finals, no fewer than nine British teenagers could be found battling away in the junior competition - each of them making an impression and five advancing to round three.
This is only the third time in the 29 years since the tournament expanded to 64 teams that only one No. 1 seed reached the regional finals, according to STATS. The only other times that a single No. 1 made it to the round of eight came in 2000 with eventual champion Michigan State and 2011 with Kansas which fell to VCU to miss the Final Four.
There were no British representatives at the finals for the first time since the 1938 tournament in France.
As for the World Championships, the games missed this weekend are going to be played this week sometime ahead of the finals, though no specifics of dates and times have been given yet.
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The Flyers, back in 2010, knocked out the Rangers for a playoff spot on the last day of the 2010 season, then went all the way to the Stanley Cup finals as a No. 7 seed.
Ferrer's victory means that Federer faces world No. 3 Andy Murray on Sunday in a rematch of the Wimbledon and Olympic finals, while Del Potro plays No. 1 Djokovic -- who won all three of his Group A games.
The victory was Treviso's first on Welsh soil, but they also have next to no hope of making the quarter-finals.
But although they had no chance of reaching the quarter-finals, the XV that were selected seemed determined not to lose the club's nine-month unbeaten record at Stade Pierre-Antoine.
There have been some excellent performances along the way, such as the Andy Goode-inspired defeat of Wasps in the EDF semi-finals, and there is no doubting Loffreda's credentials as a quality coach.
Both sides went into the game knowing they could no longer qualify for the quarter-finals from Group B, with Ireland's victory over England the only other win by either side in the competition.
Since the Black Stars beat the Cape Verde Islands to qualify for their first ever World Cup finals, there has been no shortage of people offering to 'help' the national team in all sorts of ways.
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In the past two years, no Italian club made the quarter-finals of Europe's leading competition, the Champions League, simply because they lack the tactical nous to deal with the faster tempo of the Spanish or English game.
John Isner can seal America's place in the semi-finals if he beats the French No.1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first singles rubber.
Since the current playoff format began in 1994, this is the first time the finals doesn't involve a No. 1, 2 or 3 seed.
In the NBA, only two teams seeded No. 6 or worse have reached the finals since 1994: the 1995 Houston Rockets and 1999 New York Knicks.
Ajax are looking for a place in the Uefa Champions League quarter-finals, but Mido will play no part in their efforts - one of his biggest regrets.
And with the New Jersey Devils ousting the New York Rangers in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Finals last night, there is no Stanley Cup action on Sunday.
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The finals were the same as always: no vocabulary, just spellers trying to avoid the doomsday bell.
The finals looked the same as always: No vocabulary, just spellers trying to avoid the doomsday bell.
Milorad Cavic, of Serbia, showed that his European record in the semi-finals of the 50 metres butterfly was no fluke by bettering it by eleven one hundredths of a second in the final to win in 23.11 seconds.
The finals would look the same as always: No vocabulary, just spellers trying to avoid the doomsday bell.
With Cole sidelined by an ankle injury, Terry and Bridge are expected to be named in the squad to face the African champions when it is announced at the weekend and Capello believes there will be no negative effect on his preparations for the World Cup finals in South Africa.
Fifa also vowed it would ensure that no confirmed hooligans would make it to the first World Cup finals to be staged in Asia.
This spring, Azarenka has lost finals to Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, two former No. 1 players with multiple Grand Slam titles.
Lendl, who held the world record for 270 weeks at No. 1 before being usurped by Sampras, appeared in 19 finals but could only win eight.
Besides, after watching him shut out the Devils for the second time in the series, the home fans were in no mood to be gracious at the end of the Eastern Conference finals' third game.
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Logan was speaking as a Heineken rugby ambassador ahead of this weekend's quarter-finals, with the final at Murrayfield now guaranteed to have no home representation.
"It's as tough as you can get out here, it's Russia and it's the Europeans and there are no easy fights, so to get seven through to the quarter-finals is tremendous, " GB performance director Rob McCracken told BBC Sport.
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