Frank Burlison

MIDWEST REGIONAL

THURSDAY: (at Greensboro) No. 1 North Carolina over No. 16 *Lamar (projected first-round winner); No. 8 Creighton over No. 9 Alabama; (at Nashville) No. 12 *Cal (projected first-round winner) over No. 5 Temple; No. 4 Michigan over No. 13 Ohio; (at Columbus) No. 11 North Carolina State over No. 6 San Diego State; No. 3 Georgetown over No. 14 Belmont; (at Omaha) No. 10 Purdue over No. 7 Saint Mary’s; No. 2 Kansas over No. 15 Detroit

ROUND OF 32: North Carolina over Creighton; Michigan over Cal; North Carolina State over Georgetown; Kansas over Purdue

SEMIFINALS (at St.

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EAST REGIONAL

THURSDAY: (at Pittsburgh) No. 1 Syracuse over No. 16 UNC-Asheville; No. 8 Kansas State over No. 9 Southern Mississippi; No. 7 Gonzaga over No. 10 West Virginia; No. 2 Ohio State over No. 10 Loyola-Maryland; (at Albuquerque) No. 5 Vanderbilt over No. 12 Harvard; No. 4 Wisconsin over No. 13 Montana.

FRIDAY: (at Nashville) No. 6 Cincinnati over No. 11 Texas; No. 3 Florida State over No. 14 St. Bonaventure.

ROUND OF 32: Syracuse over Kansas State; Ohio State over Gonzaga; Vanderbilt over Wisconsin; Florida State over Cincinnati.

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WEST REGIONAL

THURSDAY: (at Portland) No. 4 Louisville over No. 13 Davidson; No. 12 Long Beach State over No. 5 New Mexico; (at Louisville) No. 3 Marquette over No. 14 *Iona (projected First Four winner); No. 6 Murray State over No. 11 Colorado State.
FRIDAY: (at Columbus) No. 1 Michigan State over No. 16 Long Island; No. 9 Saint Louis over No. 8 Memphis; (at Omaha) No. 10 Virginia over No. 7 Florida; No. 2 Missouri over No. 15 Norfolk State.

ROUND OF 32: Louisville over Long Beach State; Marquette over Murray State; Michigan State over Saint Louis; Virginia over Missouri.

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SOUTH REGIONAL

THURSDAY: (at Atlanta) No. 1 Kentucky over No. 16 *Western Kentucky (projected first-round winner); No. 9 Connecticut over No. 8  Iowa State; (at Portland) No. 5 Wichita State over No. 12 VCU; No. 4 Indiana over No. 13 New Mexico State; (at Albuquerque) No. 11 Colorado over No. 6 UNLV; No. 3 Baylor over No. 14 South Dakota State.

FRIDAY: (at Greensboro) No. 7 Notre Dame over No. 10 Xavier; No. 2 Duke over No. 15 Lehigh.

ROUND OF 32: Kentucky over Connecticut; Wichita State over Indiana; Colorado over Baylor; Duke over Notre Dame.

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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.

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