Dave Preston is an AP Top 25 voter. View his ballots here.
Let the games begin! Ohio State and TCU tip off the first round of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, and we’ll have an early referendum on the Big Ten with Nebraska and Wisconsin also having games beginning before 2 p.m.
As you may be either “sick” or “on a sales call” Thursday afternoon, here are some pointers:
- Do not tell everyone how your picks are faring Thursday afternoon. After the weekend, maybe. But crowing just four games into the Big Dance is asking for ridicule at the office, among your friends and from your pets.
- truTV has been a part of the NCAA Tournament broadcast package for 15 years. The “I don’t even know what truTV is” excuse is a relic from the pre-pandemic world that used cash for the office pool. The days of pointing out the channel’s “programming,” such as “Hair-Jacked” and “Bait Car” still get a chuckle, though.
- “Boneless wings” are not “boneless wings.” They’re chicken tenders.
The evening menu includes Howard battling Midwest No. 1 seed Michigan in Buffalo on CBS. The other top seed playing Thursday is overall top seed and East No. 1 Duke, whose path to the Final Four travels through familiar territory (Greenville, South Carolina, and D.C.), but is loaded with fierce foes.
I cannot stress enough how many good teams there are in this region: powerhouses UConn, Michigan State and Kansas are your No. 2, 3 and 4 seeds, while Big East regular season and tournament champ St. John’s is the No. 5 (my biggest quibble with the committee — the Red Storm should have been higher).
Louisville, UCLA and Ohio State are more than just schools that have National Championships in their history. The regional semifinal and final rounds come to Capital One Arena next weekend and, even with an upset or two, we will be treated to some great matchups.
Bold
No. 11 seed South Florida has won 11 straight games, with six of its last seven wins coming with double digits. The Bulls possess the eighth-highest scoring offense in Division I, and their offensive rebounding percentage of 38.2% ranks in the top 10. They’re also facing a Louisville team that’s 4-4 since Valentine’s Day and has an injured freshman point guard in Mikel Brown Jr. I’m bearish on the Cardinals and bullish on the Bulls.
Fold
No. 7 seed UCLA was ranked No. 12 nationally in the preseason. West of the Rockies, the Bruins are rock stars, but they’re roadkill east of the Mississippi River, where they went 1-6 in the regular season before winning two of three games at the Big Ten Tournament. Friday’s game is in Philadelphia, or three time zones east for head coach Mick Cronin, who seemingly spends more time complaining about schedules and traveling than actually preparing his team for games.
Plus, a loss here potentially sets up a UCF-UConn matchup in the second round to conjure memories of the dormant football rivalry that gave us the “Civil Conflict” trophy.
Gold
Duke has been playing in rarefied air all season long and already has a signature win in D.C., beating Michigan at Capital One Arena in February. The Blue Devils make the return trip to D.C. and likely have to dispose of Michigan State next weekend, avenging their 2019 regional finals loss to the Spartans in that building.