It's here--Madness, baby...you'd better make those last few selections of which nine seed will beat an eight and get in your picks before this morning's deadline. (Admit it--how many of you are frustrated that the games begin at 11:00 a.m. CDT, versus 11:30 a.m. in prior years, meaning you have 30 minutes less to analyze your selections?)
- Speaking of lower seeds advancing, Villanova holds the all-time most wins as a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats have 14 wins, all-time, as a lower seed followed by: Michigan State, 12; UCLA, 11; and Purdue, Boston College, LSU, Kansas, Temple and Louisville, all with nine.
- UNC-Asheville's win over Arkansas Little Rock in one of the "first four" play-in games was not their first in NCAA Tournament history. UNC-A won in 2003, their first win ever in the tournament.
- President Obama picks Kansas to beat Ohio State in the national championship game. That match-up would be a first between the Jayhawks and Buckeyes in tournament play.
- Kentucky and Marquette have played each other the most, of any match-ups in tournament history. The two schools have faced each other eight times in tourney play followed by the six times for Kentucky-Ohio State, UCLA-San Francisco and Kentucky-Utah. There are several five-time match-ups: Duke-Connecticut, Duke-Kansas, Duke-Kentucky, Kentucky-Louisville, North Carolina-Michigan State and North Carolina-Villanova.
- One of the more entertaining games of the day is likely to be Kansas State-Utah State. The Aggies--the Utah variety--feel snubbed at their 12 seed given their 30-3 record. KSU is trying to bounce back from a somewhat lethargic performance in the Big 12 tournament to make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament. This is Jacob Pullen's last rodeo as leader of the Wildcats and his performance will likely dictate how far KSU can go in a bracket which includes a possible match-up with Wisconsin and, eventually, Pittsburgh. (Pullen did not practice on Wednesday, due to flu-like symptoms.) I think this will be a close game throughout with KSU pulling away late to win by six.
- Missouri is the lower seeded team but opened as the favorite for tonight's game against Cincinati. The match-up is now labeled a "pick 'em" by Vegas oddsmakers. Cincy does not shoot the ball well (.436) and is an average free throw shooting team, but feature two forwards who are tall, athletic and physical--a formula for defeats for MU during the regular season. MU should have a distinct advantage in the backcourt and will succeed, as usual, if they can get the Bearcats' guards sped up and turning the ball over. If Cincinnati does a good job getting the ball inside to Rashad Bishop, Ibrahim Thomas and Yancy Gates, then it could be a long night for Mike Anderson and team. MU wins this one by three.
How are you spending the day--at work, tracking the opening round action on cbssportsline.com or espn.com, or, like me, taking a day of vacation and hunkered down in the man-cave? File your reports with a response below--we're anxious to hear from you.
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