Initial bracket thoughts . . .

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – OK.

The 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket has been unveiled.

My region-by-region, game-by-game looks will be posted later.

For now, some initial thoughts upon perusing the four regional brackets:

*UNLIKE some of the talking heads/expert-types, I thought Iona was reasonably deserving of one of the 37 at-large bids.

And I think the thing that turned the tide in the NCAA Committee’s meeting room in Indianapolis was the Gaels’ BracketBuster victory over a another very good “non-BCS” team in Nevada, which dominated the WAC’s regular season before being stunned by Louisiana Tech in the conference tournament semifinals.

With as much national criticism – some of it warranted – as the Pac-12 took over the course of the season, I think Arizona and Washington had as much right to a couple of those at-large bids as did some of the programs that eventually claimed them.

*I had no problem with the teams – Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina and Michigan State – that were awarded the No. 1 regional seeds.

Certainly the Wildcats and Orange proved their national dominance over the course of the season before losing to Vanderbilt (in the SEC Sunday final) and Cincinnati (in the Big East semifinals Saturday night).

And no one disputes that the Tar Heels – when healthy – are, along with Kentucky, one of the two most “talented” teams in the country. Their problem has been in consistently playing enough defense to keep opponents at bay. And the committee must have believed that forward John Henson will be available and at (relative) full strength for the Tar Heels when they play their opener. No way would a No. 1 seed have been justified if there were any serious doubt about Henson’s availability.

The Big Ten was the best conference in the country this season and both Michigan State and Ohio State looked the part of 1 seeds through most of the season.

So it’s fitting that – upon Kansas losing in the Big 12 tourney on Friday – the winner of the Buckeyes-Spartans Big Ten tourney final Sunday was awarded the fourth spot on the top line.

*CONTRARY to what many were saying, writing or Tweeting Sunday, I don’t think the road that the Kentucky Wildcats must navigate in the South Regional to New Orleans is full of figurative potholes.

Certainly a third-round game Saturday in Lexington against Connecticut – assuming the Huskies get by No. 8 seed Iowa State – would be watchable as heck.

After all, who isn’t intrigued by the prospects of the top overall seed – and consensus favorite to cut down nets in New Orleans – taking on the defending national champion?

The probable first two picks in the next NBA Draft (the Wildcats Anthony Davis and Huskies Andre Drummond) would likely go head up a great deal in the game, and as many as a half-dozen other 2012 first-round picks could also been on the floor at the same time.

Jeremy Lamb of Connecticut against Kentucky’s Michael Kidd-Gilchrist would be another tantalizing individual matchup.

But there is a reason the Huskies were 8-10 in the Big East and were madly inconsistent – or just play bad – so often over the course of the season. They don’t seem to have nearly the cohesiveness on both ends of the floor that carried them to the Big East and national titles last spring. And, of course, Kemba Walker is now with the Charlotte Bobcats.

A Sweet 16 game vs. Indiana in Atlanta (assuming the Hoosiers can get by the best of the “mid-majors” in Wichita State in the third round) would be a tantalizing rematch of the game in which the Wildcats were handed their only loss of the regular season via that buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Christian Watford.

But, as I’m obviously suggesting, the Wildcats are simply too good – especially now that the loss to Vanderbilt and tight games with LSU and Florida in the SEC tourney in New Orleans might have been the youngsters realize that they are, indeed, vulnerable, if they don’t play sharp – for the field in this region.

And that includes Connecticut (and its hoard of future lottery picks), the Hoosiers and Mike Krzyzewski’s Duke squad.

*THE REGIONAL winner that is the most difficult for me to project is that in the Midwest.

The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed and, especially if a reasonably healthy Henson (sore wrist via the hard fall he took against Maryland on Friday) is on the floor, should be considered a solid favorite.

But Kansas – other than the stumble to Baylor in the Big 12 tourney – has played as well as any of the elite programs over the past couple of months.

And regional semifinal finals and finals will be held in St. Louis – which would provide a very decided crowd advantage for the Jayhawks.

*COOL NOTE: Only four Round of 64 matchups are made up of two teams from non-BCS conferences – No. 5 New Mexico (Mountain West) and No. 12 Long Beach State (Big West) in Portland along with No. 5 Wichita State (Missouri Valley) and No. 12 VCU (Collegiate Athletic Association); No. 8 Memphis (Conference-USA) and No. 9 Saint Louis (Atlantic 10) in Columbus; and No. 6 Murray State (Ohio Valley) and No. 11 Colorado State (MWC) in Louisville.

*ROUND of 64 games I’m most intrigued by: VCU-Wichita State, Saint Louis-Memphis, Long Beach State-New Mexico and Creighton-Alabama.

*ROUND of 32 matchups that would be kind of cool: UNC vs. Creighton (Ames, IA, teammates Harrison Barnes vs. Doug McDermott) and Connecticut vs. Kentucky (the already-discussed reasons).

*INDIVIDUAL matchups worth checking out in Round of 64: Andre Drummond vs. Anthony Davis (duh!), Jamaal Franklin (San Diego State) vs. C.J. Leslie (North Carolina State), Jordan Taylor (Wisconsin) vs. Will Cherry (Montana), Mike Moser (UNLV) vs. Andre Roberson (Colorado), Mike Scott (Virginia) vs. Patric Young (Florida), Ray McCallum Jr. (Detroit) vs. Tyshawn Taylor (Kansas) and C.J. McCollum (Ohio) vs. Trey Burke (Michigan).

*MY projected regional winners: Kentucky (South), Michigan State (West), Ohio State (East) and Kansas (Midwest).