5 vs. 12 Games Highlight Opening Weekend

As promised, our “experts” will be revealing the highlights of their bracket selections to preview the NCAA Tournament. Check back over the next few days if you need some help in bracket selection. Remember, join our Chronicle Sports bracket challenge to compete for the chance to write your very own victory blog post.

Must-Watch Thursday Game:

Southeast No. 5 Kansas St. vs. No. 12 Utah St., TRUtv, 30 minutes after Wisconsin-Belmont.

The Aggies have perhaps the largest bone to pick with the selection committee, who inexplicably gave them a 12-seed after finishing the regular season with an AP ranking of No. 19. The Wildcats' Jacob Pullen is averaging a monster 22.2 points per game since the beginning of February.

Honorable Mentions: Almost every other game in the Southeast—No. 8 Butler vs. No. 9 Old Dominion, No. 4 Wisconsin vs. No. 13 Belmont, No. 6 St. John’s vs. No. 11 Gonzaga, and No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Michigan St. all have the potential to be great games.

Must-Watch Friday Game:

West No. 5 Arizona vs. No. 12 Memphis

Friday plays host to a much weaker slate of games than Thursday, but the Tigers’ head coach Josh Pastner takes on his alma mater for the first time in what amounts to the day’s best game.

No. 1, 2 or 3 seed most likely to lose this weekend: Florida

Players to Watch:

Kenneth Faried, Morehead State. Best rebounder in the country, hands down. His matchup with Louisville’s Terrence Jennings will be outstanding.

Jon Leuer, Wisconsin. Simply put, Leuer’s play will be the determining factor between the Badgers geting to Houston and a first weekend loss. If Leuer goes off, he could singlehandedly ruin my bracket.

Final Four: Ohio State, Duke, Kansas, Utah State

Final Four Most Outstanding Player: Kyle Singler

National Champion: Duke

Call me a homer if you’d like, but Coach K wins titles in pairs.