March Madness: Day One

March Madness is finally here! The first game tips off in about an hour, so let's get right to my thoughts on day one of the Tournament:

Best Matchups

Day: South Region, No. 11 Kentucky vs. No. 6 Marquette

This was one of the hardest games for me to pick. Both teams were inconsistent in the regular season, and both teams have strong backcourts and weaker frontcourts. Kentucky had a key player go down with an injury about a month ago, and Marquette has Dominic James (who sometimes plays like he's injured). Neither team had an impressive out of conference record (Marquette's best win was against Wisconsin, and Kentucky didn't have a single good pre-conference win).

Night: West Region, No. 10 Arizona vs. No. 7 West Virginia

This was another tough game to pick. I went with Arizona in most of my brackets, because I like their balanced scoring attack. Though I had plenty of reasons not to pick the Wildcats - the turmoil surrounding the coaching situation, their under-.500 record in the Pac-10, and the fact that WV's Joe Alexander has been tearing it up recently. Alexander vs. Arizona's Chase Budinger will be a fun matchup to watch.


My Picks

No. 3 Xavier beats No. 14 Georgia
No. 5 Michigan St. beats No. 12 Temple
No. 6 USC beats No. 11 Kansas St.
No. 3 Wisconsin beats No. 14 CS Fullerton
Upset Special: No. 11 Baylor beats No. 6 Purdue


Quick Links

Mark Stewart looks at today's matchup between the UW and CS Fullerton.

A preview of Marquette's first round game.

The impact of March Madness on the workplace.

Pat Forde looks at the best and worst-case scenarios for all 64 teams.