Before I get to all 65 teams…I’m not kidding…Bob Knight needs to have the tables reversed on him by Jay Bilas. For once, I want the chair thrown in the direction of Bob Knight, preferably by a man with a law degree who both wears a suit and looks good in it. First things first with Bobby: A 128 team field would be more watered down than that first Keystone Light you drink when all you want is a Guinness. I don’t know about you, but I’d be going into cardiac arrest in anticipation for a Virginia Tech @ Baylor matchup. That’d be great. Or how about the prospects of UMass @ Villanova? That would make the first round much more exciting. It’d be like one of those preseason tournaments they play in a city like Milwaukee sometime in late November when no one cares about college basketball. We could call it the Coaches Vs. Common Sense Classic. Second, Bobby: Wear a suit. You’re not so important that you can sit on a set with 4 other suited men and not stand out like a pompous windbag in your hideous green pullover sweater. Do everyone a favor and go hunting instead of take up a spot where someone like Doug Gottlieb or Andy Katz should be sitting.

Whew. Now that I have that out of the way, first, let me congratulate the Houston Rockets on beating the Pau Gasol-less Lakers. Your luck will soon run out.

Now, on to the field of 65 and the handful of teams that got snubbed:

First, the snubs. I was obviously upset at the snub of Virginia Commonwealth. I truly think that they’re one of the 65 best teams in college basketball. The problem is, this year’s pool does not feature the top 65 teams. Because of wins by teams like Coppin State and the beyond ridiculous Georgia Bulldogs (more on this in a second) there wasn’t room for teams like VCU and Dayton. I think the Rams, Flyers, Arizona State, and Illinois State have the biggest gripe. However, the debate between Illinois State and Villanova or Arizona State and Baylor is a slightly ridiculous conversation to spend time on, as none of those teams have a shot to win the NCAA Championships. So while I would love to see Eric Maynor and the VCU Rams play the Clemson Tigers, instead of Villanova, I can’t complain, especially with a great slate of Round 1 Games.

Now, I should give Georgia some time here. And a kudos. So let’s get the Kudos out of the way. Kudos. Now, the problem I have with this, Georgia is the all-time example, from here to the end of eternity, of an underachieving team, over-achieving and getting into the tournament. It also leads me to this argument: We have less argument for the snubbed teams in a year when a team that won 4 conference games in the regular season wins their conference tournament by playing 3 games in 30 hours, in 2 different arenas. What Georgia did defies logic, and also shuts up teams like Arizona State, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech who didn’t win their conference tourneys.

Now, I have my entire bracket filled out and I could give you my entire bracket today, but that wouldn’t give me much to talk about tomorrow, besides the showdown in Dayton, OH between Coppin State and Mount St. Mary’s that should draw a -0.4 rating. I really hate the play in game, as it’s not fair to the loser. I think we’d be better off making Portland State a 15 seed, plugging in Coppin State against UNC and Mt. St. Mary’s against Kansas and eliminating the last team in, which this year was Villanova. But that’s just me.

I’m going to break down all 65 teams and their chance at winning it all, broken down to (No Chance, Needs a lot of Luck, Needs a break or two, Good Shot, Very Good Shot). Here That Goes:

-Coppin State: Not much of chance to beat Mt. St. Mary’s, nevermind North Carolina, etc. No Chance.
-Mt. St. Mary’s: Will probably beat Coppin State and get slaughtered by North Carolina. No Chance.
-North Carolina: Very Good Shot.
-Indiana: Needs A Lot of Luck.
-Arkansas: Needs a Lot of Luck.
-Notre Dame: Needs a Break or Two.
-George Mason: No Chance.
-Washington State: Needs a Lot of Luck.
-Winthrop: No Chance.
-Oklahoma: Needs a lot of Luck.
-St. Joseph’s: No Chance.
-Louiville: Needs a Break or Two.
-Boise State: Is Ian Johnson eligible? No? Okay, No Chance.
-Butler: Needs a Lot of Luck.
-South Alabama: No Chance.
-Tennessee: Very Good Shot.
-American: No Chance

Kansas: Very Good Shot
Portland State: No Chance
UNLV: Needs a Lot of Luck
Kent. State: Needs a Lot of Luck
Clemson: Needs a Lot of Luck
Villanova: No Chance
Vanderbilt: Needs a Lot of Luck
Siena: No Chance.
USC: Good Shot
Kansas State: Needs A Lot of Luck
Wisconsin: Needs a Lot of Luck
Cal State Fullerton: Good Shot (assuming every player on every other team dies)
Gonzaga: Needs a break of two.
Davidson: Needs a Lot of Luck.
Georgetown: Good Shot
UMBC: No Chance.

Memphis: Very Good Shot
UT-Arlington: No Chance
Mississippi State: Couldn’t beat a team that played a few hours before they played them. No Chance.
Oregon: Needs a Lot of Luck.
Michigan State: Needs a Lot of Luck
Temple: Needs John Cheney to kill Tom Izzo, Jamie Dixon, and then John Calipari. Otherwise, No Chance.
Pittsburgh: Good Shot.
Oral Roberts: Despite having God, No Chance, as God can’t defend Lavance Fields.
Marquette: Needs a Lot of Luck.
Kentucky: No Chance.
Stanford: Good Shot.
Cornell: Well, they’re smart at least. No Chance.
Miami: As the entire tourney isn’t being played in “The OB” I would say No Chance.
Saint Mary’s: Needs A Lot of Luck.
Texas: Good Shot.
Austin Peay: No Chance.

UCLA: Very Good Shot.
Mississippi Valley State: Can Jerry Rice play football? Also a no? Okay, No Chance.
BYU: Though I’d love a Final Four matchup with Oral Roberts, I’ll say They Need a lot of luck.
Texas A&M: No Chance.
Drake: Needs a Lot of Luck.
Western Kentucky: No Chance.
UConn: Needs a lot of luck.
San Diego: They need another Jonestown to occur, only this time in Storrs, CT. No Chance.
Purdue: No Chance.
Baylor: There’s so many jokes here. I’ll just go with No Chance.
Xavier: No Chance.
Georgia: Please.
West Virginia: No Chance.
Arizona: Needs a lot of Luck.
Duke: Very Good Shot.
Belmont: No chance.

You may have noticed that only two teams “Needs a Break or two.” The breaks that that those teams (Notre Dame and Louisville) needs are Tyler Hansborough’s Leg and every Tennessee player’s wrist. But kidding aside, I think they can both make a run.

The following teams have a Very Good Shot:

North Carolina
Tennessee
Kansas
Memphis
UCLA
Duke

The following teams have a Good Shot:
USC
Georgetown
Pittsburgh
Texas
Stanford

The Final Four will come from those two pools above. I find it difficult to imagine all of the teams who need a lot of luck (3 point heavy teams like Vanderbilt and Oregon or middle of the pack teams in tough brackets, like Michigan State and Washington State) can make it very far in this year’s tourney. It’s stacked.

Here are my top 5 games of the first round that you have to find a way to watch:

5. West Region: (7) West Virginia vs. (10) Arizona: Arizona is much better than a 10 seed and West Virginia is not as good as a 7 seed. I just like this matchup. No real analysis here.

4. East Region: (7) Butler vs. (10) South Alabama: You won’t find a better contrast in schools than in this matchup. Butler, from Indianapolis playing South Alabama from Mobile, Alabama. Butler’s star guard AJ Graves matching up against South Alabama’s star guard Demetric Bennett. Should be interesting.

3. East Region: (4) Washington State vs. (13) Winthrop: Want to watch an insane contrast in styles? This is your game. Winthrop will try to make Wazzou run. Washington State will try to make Winthrop take a nap. I don’t think Winthrop can pull off the upset, but it could be a very intriguing game.

2. Midwest Region: (7) Gonzaga vs. (10) Davidson: I’ve talked about Stephen Curry before. This is your chance to see him go up against the legendary mid-major team. Davidson is better than you’d think. But so is Gonzaga.

1. Midwest Region: (6) USC vs. (11) Kansas State: This is everyone’s game to watch, for good reason. It’s more than just OJ Mayo vs. Michael Beasley. But really, it’s not. Rarely do we get to see two star freshman go head-to-head. As I’ve stated many times, I really like this USC team, but remember, Kansas State beat Kansas this year.

My Upset of the First Round (the biggest seeding disparity) That I Actually Picked: East Region (6) Oklahoma losing to (11) Saint Joseph’s.

My Upset of The First Round (The biggest seeding disparity) That I Would Have Picked, Had I Had Testicles: Midwest Region: (4) Vanderbilt losing to (13) Siena. Vandy needs to be hitting 3’s to win any game and they don’t do that well away from home. Tampa, FL is not Nashville, TN. Accordingly, I’m skeptical. Siena beat Stanford earlier this year. I’m just saying.

Game O’ The Day: Boston Celtics @ San Antonio Spurs. This is where the Celtics schedule starts getting real tough.