NCAA Tournament First Round: Picks, Storylines, & Games Thread:

March Madness is back. The starting days are different and the games will only be played in the state of Indiana, but the compelling television will have college basketball fans excitedly watching as usual. Here are a few of my thoughts on some of the first round games:

Upset Pick - Every fan has their conventional 12/5 matchup “upset” pick and I am no different. The trendy choice is of course Winthrop over an injured Villanova team, but I think I’m going to take Georgetown over Colorado. Patrick Ewing seems to be coaching with a lot of confidence.

Big 12 vs. Big 10 - I’m not sure how many Big 12 teams will advance this weekend, but one thing we do as fans is watch our conference brethren perform, so we can get a gauge on how tough the league really was this year. The Big 10 was widely regarded as the best conference in college basketball, but that’s debatable. And although we won’t be able to watch the Big 10 & Big 12 teams compete against each other in the first round, it won’t stop fans from scrutinizing every game that is played by both conferences.

Former Baylor Assistants - It’s also a big weekend for the Scott Drew coaching tree. Grant McCasland will lead North Texas against a Solid Purdue team. That game will be played Thursday evening at 6:25 PM. In addition, Paul Mills and Oral Roberts will take on Ohio State today at 2:00 PM.

It should be a fun weekend. Even the “First Four” games played last night were excellent. Enjoy the games.