The NCAA tournament starts on Tuesday and the kickoff includes two play-in games that are for some dumb reason called the "first round", with MTSU taking on St. Mary's in the late game and NC A&T taking on the 20-loss Liberty squad in the early game.
The rest of the tournament starts in full swing on Thursday and the number one overall seed Louisville will be looking to get off to a fast start, as will Butler, who takes on Bucknell in the early game on the first day. The Cardinals will take on the winner of N.C. A&T/Liberty, while later in the day Syracuse will take on Montana and Michigan State will play Valparaiso.
Louisville, Gonzaga, Kansas and Indiana have the targets on their backs as number one seeds, while Georgetown, Miami, Duke and Ohio State will be looking for Elite Eight upsets as number two seeds. The top dogs will be favored, as five of the past six championships have come by a number one seeded team.
Some interesting facts, stats, notable names and trends heading into the NCAA Tournament with information help from ESPN.com and SI.com.
Many teams are streaking into the tournament, with Duke, Kansas, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Gonzaga all making it for the 15th straight (or higher) season. The Jayhawks are tops with 24, while Duke has 18. The Bulldogs are in as a number on seed for the first time in school history, while the Indiana Hoosiers are number one for the first time in 10 years since the 1993 tournament.
Marquette tied its all-time best seed with a number three, while Florida is also a number three, which happens to be what they were when they won the championship in 2006. Miami is also making an appearance as a high seed for the first time, matching their performance from 1999 when they lost in the round of 32 as the same seed.
According to ESPN.com, Miami is the first ACC team to win the regular season and conference tournament titles and not named a number one seed. The most recent number one seed to win was Kentucky last season, while the last number two was Connecticut in 2004 and number three was UConn in 2011. Any four or five seeds are going to be fighting history, as a four hasn't won since 1997 and a five seed never has. Good luck with that Wisconsin.
Maryland was snubbed after beating two top five teams and not making the tournament, while 20-loss liberty did make it. North Carolina and Roy Williams has the chance to play his old team in Kansas if both make it past their first games.
Number one seeds have won 10 of the past 14 championships, while the number two seed has won just once. Gonzaga enters the tournament and could do something special, as they would be the first team to win the national title after not losing in conference play, winning their conference title and getting a number one seed.
Based on history, Duke, Miami Georgetown and Ohio State should be on upset alert, as in once in the past 16 years has all four teams reached the Sweet 16. Duke knows from experience after losing to Lehigh last season and will not want that to happen again with Albany.
Check out the PREDICTIONS for the NCAA tournament or for a FULL bracket here.
