4 Regions in 4 Days!

It's now Monday and that means we have 3 and a half days to wait until opening tip-off. I can't wait! It makes crazy looking at all the brackets for these 3 days and making my picks and analyzing every game in every region. I'm going to preview each region up until Thursday so that you all have my expert analysis about the tournament.

Let's start with the Midwest.

This is the region where Louisville came out of nowhere to receive the number 1 overall seed. The only reason I say out of nowhere is because before Thursday of last week they weren't even mentioned as a number 1 seed. Don't get me wrong, I think they deserve it but it was just crazy that all of the sudden they were the overall number 1 seed.

In the 8 vs. 9 game Ohio State plays Siena. In my opinion this is a little high for Ohio State. I know they made a big run in the Big Ten tournament but a 10 or 11 seed is where I had them. Siena is a really good team and can make some serious noise. They have a good chance of beating the Buckeyes but then they face Louisville. This will be a game to see, I promise!

A 12 seed always beats a 5 seed. The other thing is that, I swear every year when everyone knows who the last team in was that team always proves themselves. Arizona plays Utah in this matchup. I'm just saying.

Wake Forest is the number 4 seed and gets Cleveland State who some would argue is just as good as Butler and Butler is a 9 seed. This could be a setup game for the Demon Deacons who may be a little disappointed with this spot. I think this will be close but the Deacs get the W.

West Virginia and Dayton play in the 6 vs. 11 game. This may be one of the better games of the first round. I think Dayton is very good and if I were on the committee, I would've switched them and Ohio State in this region. I don't know who to tell you to pick here but either way you will be sweating to the end.

Kansas and North Dakota State is the matchup at 3 vs. 14. The last time Kansas lost in the first round it was to Bucknell. The seeds in that matchup were 3 vs. 14 and Bucknell's nickname is the Bison. Guess what NDSU's nickname is. Yep, you got it, the Bison. If and that is a big IF NDSU can win a game or two it will be a huge Cinderella story. This is the first year this team was even eligible for the dance and they actually have a whole bunch of players that were redshirted just for this chance.

In the 7 vs. 10 matchup we've got Boston College against USC. This is going to be a great game. These two teams are almost the same team. They both were mid pack in their conference but both seem to be playing their best ball at the right time. It's going to be a barn burner and a matchup I can't decide on right now.

Finally in the 2 vs. 15 matchup we Michigan State and Robert Morris. Michigan State was the last number 2 seed and well Robert Morris is Robert Morris. Michigan State will win this easily but it will be interesting to see if they will get past the winner of the BC/USC game.

I don't know who I am picking in every game but I have picked one bracket so far. I am going to go off of that one for the sake of the blog so right now I actually have Louisville playing Kansas in the regional final with Louisville going to the final four. If you listened to the podcast you will notice that between last night at 9 and this morning at 10 I have changed my pick from Kansas to Louisville as the champion of the region.

I love this stuff!