Other Campuses: It’s going to be a mad world this month

By The BG News

(U-WIRE) BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – It is that time of the year again when life is a little more exciting. You rush home to watch the games on CBS and check the Internet for updates on the non-televised games. Missing class, bringing a transistor radio everywhere you go, just to become aware of how your bracket will turn out becomes a social norm.

It’s March Madness, a time for sports fans to ponder their brackets and glue themselves to the TV, wishing their Cinderella team advances. This year’s field of teams is very deep, and it’s a hard bracket to figure out.

The teams in the tournament are legitimate, but I feel that Indiana, Notre Dame and Miami got the short end of the stick. Looking at the first round and the potential games to follow there are a lot of exciting games.

Breaking down the regions, we start off with the Chicago Region. Illinois is the best team in the country and the top seed here.

Best first-round game: Texas vs. Nevada. Texas has one of the best freshmen in the nation with point guard Daniel Gibson while Nevada has one of the most underrated players in the NCAA, Nick Fazekas. Nevada may be outmatched with depth as they don’t have many offensive scorers.

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Best possible matchup: Possible Sweet Sixteen matchup between Arizona and Oklahoma State. Salim Stoudamire versus John Lucas, it doesn’t get much better then that.

Cinderella watch: Southern Illinois has the MVC Player of the Year in Darren Brooks, and if the Salukis can produce offensively, their defense can carry them.

Best player: Dee Brown of Illinois. He is the Big Ten Player of the Year and brings incredible speed and energy to the floor every game. Also a potential top 10 pick in NBA draft.

Upset watch: Boston College matches up well with Illinois and if Illinois has another bad game like against Ohio State, B.C. could be trouble. UAB did it last year, and this year they still have the talent to knock off LSU in round one.

Now we can move on to the Albuquerque Region with No. 1 seed and surprise Washington.

Best first-round game: Texas Tech vs. UCLA. UCLA has three athletic freshmen (Farmar, Affalo and Shipp) who are led by team scoring leader forward Dijon Thompson. Texas Tech has very good guards led by Ronald Ross. Texas Tech has some control problems and makes a lot of mistakes when they push the ball. Tech needs to avoid turnovers and shut down Dijon Thompson to win.

Best possible matchup: A potential second-round matchup between Georgia Tech and Louisville. The Cardinals are one of the best teams in the country and ended up with a bad seed, while Georgia Tech is one of the hottest teams in the country. Tech’s trio of Jarrett Jack, B.J. Elder and Luke Schenscher is almost unstoppable when they are all on their game. Louisville also has a dynamic trio with Francisco Garcia, Taquan Dean and Larry O’Bannon. This game might be the best in the tournament and whoever wins this game should push for the Final Four.

Cinderella watch: Pittsburgh plays in one of the best conferences in the country, the Big East, and is primed for good competition. If Chris Taft and Carl Krauser get hot, they can make it to the second weekend.

Best player: Wake Forest’s Chris Paul. There’s no question that this is the best point guard in the nation and he is only a sophomore. Paul is an aggressive slasher who creates with the ball. If he decides to leave he will be a top five pick in the NBA draft.

Upset watch: Look for the winner of Georgia Tech and Louisville to beat Washington in the Sweet Sixteen. You can’t forgot about March Madness’ most famous team, Gonzaga, as it can make a strong push to the Final Four and knock off Wake Forest. This may be a stretch, but Creighton, with its 3-pointers, has a chance to defeat West Virginia.

The Syracuse Region has the most talented teams. The top five seeds have the potential to make the Final Four. North Carolina has the No. 1 seed in this region.

Best first-round game: Villanova vs. New Mexico. Villanova in the past month has been hot as they almost climbed to the top of the Big East. Villanova has four great guards led by Allan Ray. But they lack size, which may hurt them. New Mexico has one of the best players in the country, Danny Granger. If Granger’s supporting cast rises to the occasion look out for the Lobos.

Best possible matchup: How can the potential Elite Eight matchup between North Carolina and Kansas not be the best? Roy Williams would coach against his old team in Kansas. Carolina and Kansas have the best athletes in College basketball and the intriguing matchup between Keith Langford and Rashard McCants and Aaron Miles and Ray Felton.

Cinderella watch: North Carolina State. The Wolfpack are led by senior Julius Hodge. They also have a dynamite 3-point shooter in Ilian Evtimov. They play in the best conference the ACC, and all the competition may pay off.

Best Player: Rashad McCants from North Carolina. The best pure scorer in the NCAA. His outside shooting ability and inside scoring threat make him dangerous. Look for McCants to draw many double-teams, leaving Felton open shots.

Upset watch: Northern Iowa almost won their game last year against Georgia Tech. This year they are more balanced offensively with sharp shooter Ben Jacobson. The Gators have the fire power to knock off North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen.

The final region is Austin, where Duke is number one.

Best first-round game: Cincinnati vs. Iowa. Iowa has risen from early season struggles and almost made it to the Big Ten championship. The Bearcats have some solid talent and a great threat with Jason Maxiell. If Iowa plays as strong as it did in the Big Ten tournament, it could win this one.

Best possible matchup: Duke versus Syracuse in the Sweet Sixteen. With two of the greatest players in NCAA basketball, J.J Reddick from Duke and Hakim Warrick from Syracuse, will battle each other all game.

Cinderella watch: UTEP has one of the best duos in the NCAA with Omar Thomas and Filiberto Rivera. UTEP leads the nation in free throw percentage, which is a very important stat.

Best player: Andrew Bogut of Utah. Bogut is a 7-foot, 245-pound sophomore who dominates games inside and outside. Bogut will most likely be the first pick overall in the upcoming NBA draft.

Upset watch: Look for Old Dominion to pose problems for Michigan State, or even Niagara to hang with three seed Oklahoma.

– Matt Riddle