There is nothing better in sports than getting the first look at the NCAA Tournament Bracket. The excitement, the possibilities and the knowledge that Dick Vitale won’t be calling any of the games… it’s downright exhilarating.
Maybe baseball’s Opening Day compares, but in April you know you’re not going to crown a champion until October. With the Big Dance, it’s only three short weeks until one of those 65 teams on your bracket will be crowned National Champion.
Who’s it going to be? Kentucky, Stanford and Connecticut all seem like safe picks. But every now and then a lower seeded team cuts down the nets, like Syracuse (#3) last year and Villanova (#8) in 1985. So do Cincinnati, Alabama or Boston College have a run in them? What team is going to pull the biggest shocker of the first round? Will Bobby Knight actually win a first round game? And will CBS assign Billy Packer to St. Joe’s region so Phil Martelli can lay a beat down on him?
We’ll hit at most of these questions throughout the week. Those brackets stay blank until 2:00 p.m.on Thursday, so there’s plenty of time for incorrect analysis and miserable predictions nationwide.

Best Bracket Innovation
The NCAA deciding to rank the #1 seeds. There was an outcry last year when Kentucky and Kansas, the consensus #1 and #2 teams in the country were placed on the same side of the bracket, headed for a possible showdown in the National Semi-Final. Of course, Kentucky ended up losing to Marquette in the Elite Eight so it ended up being a moot point. But this year the #1 seeds are seeded, which really doesn’t mean all that much, but makes for better copy when #1 overall Kentucky eventually loses.

Worst Bracket Innovation
Renaming the regions based on the location of the Regionals. Usually the four parts of the bracket were broken down into East, South, Midwest and West. This made sense. Everybody was happy. I don’t think I ever heard anybody complain about this setup. All was good in the world.
Then, for some reason the NCAA decided that they don’t like directional names, so instead of winning the East regional to advance to the Final Four, a team will now have hats and t-shirts that proclaim them the victors of the East Rutherford region. It’s what every kid dreams about. Hitting a buzzer-beater to win the regional named after some swamplands in Jersey. And I bet the people of West Rutherford are sorely disappointed this morning.

Easiest Draw
Kentucky. Does anybody really expect Washington, Providence or Kansas to give the Wildcats any trouble? And in the bottom half of the bracket, the weakest #2 seed in the field (Gonzaga) will have a tough time getting by Michigan St. or Georgia Tech. Tubby Smith and company should start looking for good restaurants on the River Walk.

Toughest Draw
Mississippi State. I bet the players down in Starkville are kicking themselves for losing to Vanderbilt on Friday night. Instead of playing their way into a #1 seed, the Bulldogs fell to a #2 and are rewarded with a sub-region of North Carolina, Texas, Xavier and Louisville. Then Duke awaits in the Regional Final. But MSU won’t get that far to notice.

Baked the Selection Committee a Wide Array of Desserts
Kansas. What exactly did the Jayhawks do to a) earn a #4 seed, b) play their first-round games in Kansas City and c) have St. Louis be the site of the regional. They lost to Richmond and Nevada, didn’t beat a team that is currently ranked in the Top 25 and got hammered by Texas in the Big 12 semi-finals. If it said Baylor on their jerseys instead of Kansas, the Jayhawks would be looking at a #9 seed.

Ran Over the Dogs of Members of the Selection Committees
Pittsburgh. The Panthers reward for winning the Big East regular season title and coming within a few inches of winning the Big East Tournament? A #3 seed, a trip to Milwaukee and a potential second-round date with Wisconsin. And did I mention that the game is in Milwaukee?

Most Undeserved Complaints About Seed
Wisconsin. The Badgers didn’t deserve a #6 seed. The were ranked all season, will probably finish in the Top 10 of both polls and won a weak, but still tough, Big 10 Tournament. The team they throttled in the final, Illinois, grabbed a #5 seed. So the cheese heads have reason to be upset at the number beside their name. But, the Badgers have 1st and 2nd round games in their backyard and will probably face a 3rd seeded Pitt team with a chip on its shoulder in the 2nd. Do you think Wisconsin would rather have their deserved #4 seed and gotten shipped to Seattle? Neither do I.

Most Shocked on Selection Sunday – In a Good Way
Maryland. Exactly one week before Selection Sunday Maryland was a bubble team. Four days before that they were on the outside looking in. Five straight wins and an ACC Tournament Championship later, the Terps scored a #4 seed and have a favorable draw in front of them. The Terps victory against Duke will eventually be remembered as one of the greatest games in ACC Tournament history. After leading big in the first half, and then playing catch-up in the 2nd half, Gary Williams’ Terrapins looked done, down 12 after the under-four timeout. But with John Gilchrist doing his best impersonation of Allen Iverson and Mike Jones and Mike Grinnon looking like seasoned vets, the Terps tied it up late in regulation and saw J.J. (I went 3-17 from 3-point range in the ACC Tournament, yet Dick Vitale still insists I am the greatest shooter ever. John Gilchrist, by the way, shot 9-14) Redick brick an open game-winner. The Terps kept creeping ahead in OT, only to let the Blue Devils back in. But Daniel Ewing caught a case of the J.J’s and missed two crucial wide-open 3-point attempts, and the Terps hung on for their first title since the Len Bias era. Even with the victory, it seemed to be a fair assumption that the Terps would land at a #5 or a #6. But the committee saw fit to reward an inconsistent regular season capped off with an amazing five game run in which the Terps beat four Top 20 teams. I guarantee Syracuse and Stanford are not happy to see the streaking Terrapins on their side of the bracket.

Most Shocked on Selection Sunday – In a Bad Way
Utah State. The Aggies finished the year 25-3, with rankings in the last six AP polls, but were upset by Cal State-Northridge in their conference tournament. Then they suffered the indignity of letting CBS cameras into their “selection show party” only to record them looking dazed when they didn’t hear their name annoucned.
It just goes to show, that if you’re in a non-major conference, you have to win the conference tournament to assure yourself of a bid. It’s so stupid. The Aggies breezed through their regular season, had one loss in conference play, yet won’t make the NCAA Tournament. That would be like naming the winner of the Ironman Triathlon by taking the guy who finished the swimming, biking and running in the fastest time, then picking somebody at random from the rest of the field and making them thumb wrestle for the title.

Best 1st Round Game
Texas Tech-Charlotte. The last time Bobby Knight won a first round game since the Spice Girls were popular. Charlotte has been a hot-shooting team of late, and has won against Syracuse, Southern Illinois, Cincinnati and DePaul this year. The winner of this game is fighting for the chance to upset St. Joe’s in the 2nd round.

Best Possible 2nd Round game
North Carolina-Texas. Two of the most talented teams in the nation, but also two of the most confusing. How can a team with Rashad McCants, Raymond Felton and Sean May lose to Clemson? And how can this Texas team go over 13 minutes in the Big 12 Final without making a FG? But when they’re on, these two teams are as good as anybody in the country. If they were on different sides of the bracket, I might have them both in the Final Four. As it is, however, they will make for one of the best 2nd round matchups in recent memory.

Worst Possible 2nd Round game
Gonzaga-Nevada. I’m not saying that Nevada will beat Michigan State, but the Wolf Pack did beat Kansas earlier this year. If they did, they would probably see Gonzaga in the 2nd round, in a game that wouldn’t have been broadcast on TV’s in Reno and Seattle had it occurred two months ago.

Best Possible 1st Round Upset
Manhattan over Florida. What do you get when you combine an up-and-coming coach with a Juan Dixon clone? I don’t know, but I think whatever it is, it can beat Florida. Coach Bobby Gonzalez has been mentioned as a possible savior at St. John’s, but first he and two-time MAAC Player of the Year Luis Flores have a matchup with a depleted and overrated Florida team.

Best Possible Big 1st Round Upset
Princeton over Texas. Yes, I just proclaimed Texas a Final Four contender, but Princeton could present problems for Texas. The Longhorns have a huge size advantage in the middle, but Princeton’s tricky offense could confuse them. And that, combined with a cold shooting Texas team, could get Princeton the upset. Plus, I’ve never been too much of a fan of Rick Barnes. Him trying to figure out how to beat Princeton’s offense would probably be similar to me trying to do long division. That being said, I still think Texas will win. And most teams that make a Final Four run, usually have a nail-biting game early in the tourney. (Remember Maryland vs. George Mason in 2001 and Florida vs. Butler in 2000?)

Early Final Four Picks
I like Kentucky, Oklahoma State, Texas and Connecticut to play their way into San Antonio. And in the finals I tentatively have Kentucky and Connecticut playing for the National Championship, with Tubby Smith cutting down the nets in south Texas for the second time.
But who knows what will happen. History says that there will be at least one #1 seed in the Final Four, a #2 or a #3 and then perhaps a long-shot. And this year is as good as any for a long shot to win the whole thing. After playing a ridiculously tough ACC schedule do you think that Georgia Tech and Wake Forest are scared of anybody? Louisville earned the #3 ranking in the country earlier this year before they slowed down after Rick Pitino’s health scare. Who’s to say they’re not capable of putting together four solid games en route to San Antonio?
Nobody knows what’s going to happen and that’s what makes the NCAA Tournament so great. The brackets are blank. But they won’t be for long.
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