Sports Editor

Get out the brackets guys cause it’s just about time to get crazy.

The NCAA Tournament selection show is ready for air at 6:30 p.m. today and all the good little college basketball fanatics like myself feel like it’s Christmas eve and we’re just about ready to unwrap our presents.

Will your favorite team get in or won’t they? If it’s a lock, then just how much respect will the selection committee give them in the form of a high seeding?

All these questions are just part of the build up and the excitement that is March Madness.

I don’t care if your team is 12-26 and hasn’t got a chance, it’s still fun to watch all the coverage and see the how teams react with they get their invitation to the big dance.

Of course you have those that don’t make it and the bubble bursts along with the hopes and dreams of an entire season, but there are only 64 slots. It’s when you’re on that bubble and don’t get in when you start saying things like "what if we had just pulled off that one win early in the season."

Well all those questions and thoughts of what if and maybe will be brushed away with a unapologetic hand today as the committee makes the call and fills in all the empty slots.

Personally I think this year there are going to be a lot of upset folks across the country with as level a playing field this year’s teams have played on. There hasn’t been many teams that have proven all year that they are of the No. 1 calibre besides maybe Duke, Stanford, Arizona and Cincinnati.

The Bearcats just got through losing in the first round of the Conference USA tournament after star center Kenyon Martin broke his leg in the first few minutes of their game with Saint Louis. So what do you do with a team that has only lost three games all year?

Without Martin they are definitely not a No. 1 seed, but I guess that’s up to the committee to decide.

Who do you think should and shouldn’t get in? I’m of the opinion that for the first time in who knows how many years, North Carolina should be left home or at the most in the NIT.

They also got put out in the first round of their conference tourney and only won 17 games in a down-year for the ACC. Still, knowing how big a draw a Tar Heels’ team is and how the committee works they will probably sneak in as a 10 or 12 seed and leave some other deserving team by the wayside.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to be in that little room all day today picking teams, eating junk food and stressing out over RPI ratings. They have their work cut out for them.

Whatever the outcome, though, we’ll all be watching. We’ll make our predictions, throw in our couple of bucks to the pool and root for teams we never heard of to pull the upset just so we can put another win on our chart.