Most Intriguing First Round Game:  Utah vs. Arizona.  Utah maybe had the better season, but I'm not sure anyone would say that the Utes have more talent than the Wildcats.  A lot of teams were bitter about Arizona's inclusion, but Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger are lottery pick talents, while Nic Wise is no slouch at guard.  Luke Nevill is heir to the Andrew Bogut crown inside and the Mountain West champs can shoot the three, so count on this being your typically entertaining 5-12 game.

Best Possible Opening Weekend Showdown: Ohio State/Louisville and Kansas/WVU.  The Cardinals will obviously advance to the second round - not so sure about the Buckeyes against a very intriguing Siena team - but while Louisville isn't that far from Dayton, this will still be Buckeye territory.  Evan Turner is a multi-faceted monster, BJ Mullens will be a lottery pick some day and Mark Titus will be blogging the entire thing.  Kansas wasn't supposed to be here a year after losing most of their championship roster, while West Virginia has young talent of its own with Devin Ebanks, Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones.      

Potential Sleeper (5 seed or higher): West Virginia.  There is clear Big East bias on this blog, but it's somewhat understandable when you consider how good the conference was all year.  West Virginia, under both Beilein and Huggins, has had a lot of success in the tournament that always ended in soul-crushing defeats (Louisvile in '05, Texas in '06, Xavier last year).  They have a top fifteen offense and defense ( per KenPom), and are the sixth best offensive rebounding team in the nation.     

Trendy Pick (4 seed or lower): Michigan State.  Well, this is the time of year where everyone says "I hate to say it, Michigan State always turns it on in the tournament!".  Shall we investigate?  Their last few tournament finishes:

2008: Sweet Sixteen

2007: Second Round

2006: Lost in First Round

2005: Final Four

2004: Lost in First Round

So do they always turn it on?  Not really, but their draw isn't that tough.  You shouldn't take Izzo's bunch just because "they always go well in the tourney," but hey, if you like them, there's no discernable trend that should stop you. 

Why The Favorite Could Fall: Louisville lost to Notre Dame by 33 points.  That would be reason enough to doubt the Cardinals, but they haven't lost since then, winning the regular and postseason crowns of the best conference in the land.  Louisville's problems stem from the fact they can get extremely stagnant on offense if they fall in love with the jump shot and can't get any easy buckets off turnovers.  Again: they lost to Notre Dame by 33.  They don't get to the line a lot and when they do, they miss a lot of freebies.  We're nitpicking here, but that's the point of this category.