Let the countdown begin. We are just minutes away from the opening round of the Road to the Final Four. At this moment, 64 teams from across the country all believe they have a shot to play in Atlanta for the National Championship. If last year’s tournament taught us anything it’s that every team in the field has a chance to win. You never know where Cinderella is hiding, but you don’t have to wait much longer to find out. It’s time to sit back and enjoy all the drama, intrigue, and excitement of the NCAA Tournament. Looking for the best storylines from Day 1? Here is Bleeding Sports’ rundown of your best bets from the first day of action.
12:20pm – (13) Davidson vs. (4) Maryland
The first game of the 2007 tournament is out of the Midwest region and tips off from Buffalo, NY. I like that NCAA decided to bring back the geographic names for each region this year even though you have teams in the West and Midwest regions playing games in Buffalo. It sounds much better than calling something the St. Louis region or the East Rutherford region. Maryland is an interesting team that was a strong run before their shocking loss to Miami in the ACC tournament. Look for the Terrapins to get back on track and make a run.
12:30pm – (11) Stanford vs. (6) Louisville
This is a huge game and not just because it pits The Cardinal vs. The Cardinals. This match up epitomizes the job done by tournament selection committee. No conference was more disrespected than the Big East. Louisville finished second in the conference and yet they were awarded a 6 seed. On the other side, way too much love was given to the Pac-10. How Stanford, losers of 4 of their last 5 games, even made the filed over the likes of Syracuse and West Virginia is maddening.
2:40pm (12) Old Dominion vs. (5) Butler
An interesting match-up between two mid-major at-large teams and it just so happens to be a contest between a 5 seed and 12 seed. This game has upset written all over it. Right? Seems like everybody is hopping on the ODU bandwagon for this game yet the best argument for ODU is because they won at Georgetown early in the season. That was a nice win and all, but Georgetown was a very different team then than they are now. Butler, meanwhile, has been the better team all season. Should be a good contest.
7:20pm – (9) Michigan St. vs. (8) Marquette
A classic 8 vs. 9 battle between two evenly matched teams and a coach (MSU’s Tom Izzo) going up against his former assistant (MU’s Tom Crean). Another sub-plot here is the Big Ten vs. the Big East. It is clear by the seeding and the records of the team that got in the tournament that the selection committee obviously held the Big Ten in higher regard. Yet I can’t imagine any unbiased party who watched the quality of play in the Big Ten would seriously believe that the Big East wasn’t the better conference. This game is another chance for a Big East team to prove the committee wrong.
9:45pm – (10) Gonzaga vs. (7) Indiana
The final game scheduled for the evening comes out of the West Region and will actually be played out West in Sacramento, CA. What are the odds? The Hoosier another prime example of a Big Ten team viewed in much higher regard than they should just because they played in a conference with Ohio St. and Wisconsin. This is where too much attention is paid to the RPI. Just because a team plays in a conference with two top 5 teams doesn’t mean the rest of the league is any good. In fact, the rest of the Big Ten is awful and Indiana is part of that group. Gonzaga’s guard play should cause problems for Kelvin Sampson’s squad.
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