First, hooray. It's time for the best college sports thing in the World, if not the best sports thing period. It's great to be a part of it after (1) last year's debacle and (2) this year's almost-debacle. I'm so excited I even accidentally referred to a pizza place's delivery area as its "delivery bracket" ten minutes ago.

After CBS made things uncomfortable for a minute and announced the Irish in the very last match-up of the tournament, it was time to scramble up some info on Old Dominion and (if all goes according to plan..please) Baylor. A more detailed scouting report will follow in the unbearable three day-Christmas Eve between today and Thursday, but here are some initial thoughts on half of the New Orleans pod.

Respek is important. Most projections had ND coming in at an 8 seed, and we breathed a sigh of relief when the 8/9 game under Kansas featured (1) Northern Iowa and (2) not ND. The basketball gods seemed to be smiling this St. Patrick's week, and maybe they sort of were: a 6 seed showed the committee's respect for ND's late-season run in the toughest conference and conference tourney in America. Very nice. But the compliment was backhanded. Because...

Old Dominion is good. One could make the argument that ND would've landed a better draw as the 8, 12, or even 13 seed in the South. Maybe not. But the Irish's first-round and potential second-round match-ups are less than desirable. Working quietly in the CAA all year, Old Dominion posted an early-season win at Georgetown and rolled through their conference schedule and tournament. A quick glance at the Monarchs' stat sheet shows a balanced scoring attack, led by senior forward Gerald Lee, who averages about 15 and 5 a game (he was also born in Finland, so that's fun). KenPom rates ODU as his 33rd-overall team (five slots ahead of ND), and a top-20 squad in his nerdtastic defensive efficiency ratings.

Baylor is very good. If we slog it out Thursday, we'll likely have to face the Baylor Bears on Saturday, who have been under-the-radar in the fantastic Big XII all year. Perhaps the scariest team in the region. Three wins over Texas, victories over TAMU, Oklahoma State, Mizzou and Xavier. Its two losses to Kansas State were by 2 and 7 points, and it fell to Kansas by 6 in their only match-up this season. The Bears went 11-5 in the second-best conference in the country, and feature a fearsome threesome: First, there's 6'4'' guard LaceDarius Dunn, who averages 19 points, 5 boards and 2 assists a game. Point guard Tweety Carter scores just under 16 a game and drops 6 dimes per contest. Inside, 6'10'' Michigan transfer Epke Udoh scores 14 a game, pulls down 10 boards, and averages 3.9 blocks per game. 3.9 blocks! I don't know about you, but I'd rather play Duke. Or Nova. Or anyone not named Kansas or Kentucky.

But before we get too excited about Baylor, there's Thursday, and before there's Thursday, there are like 90 hours. Read up and go ahead and gnash those teeth in the comments section.