Happy March Madness, everyone! The madness has been going on for a few weeks now, but today the Main Event starts. May all your brackets be delivered from busts and the Cinderella you’ve circled makes it past midnight. I know there are plenty of folks stuck at work or without TV access. In between refreshing scoreboard pages and fuzzy video streams of the games, I offer some quick previews, links and picks for today’s afternoon sessions. #8 LSU vs. #9 Butler. Line, LSU -1.5, O/U 127.5 This is a second round game disguised as a first round game. Both clubs were solid top-20 teams for much of the last half of the season, but after failing to deliver in their respective league tournaments were downgraded on the seed lines. For the Bulldogs it might be an unfavorable draw, but at least they get a rare chance to take down a team from a BCS league. LSU fans aren’t to stoked about being placed in the 8/9 game either and feel their Bayou Tigers stack up better than most of the other clubs on this seed line. One fan base is going to be even more aggravated in a few hours. Can Butler make enough treys to survive? Can the Butler Way prove production again in March? Can LSU’s length and athleticism on the front line make a difference? #8BYU vs. #9 Texas A/M. Line, BYU -3, O/u 139.5 This is a rematch of a first round game last season, won by the Aggies thanks to the hot shooting of Josh Carter. You can bet stopping him will be part of BYU’s defensive strategy this time around. The Aggies were buried as recently as Valentine’s Day, buried in the Big 12 standings with a 3-7 record. But, they’ve turned it around thanks to the steady leadership of coach Mark Turgeon who finally has things going to his way in College Station in the post-Gillespie/A.C. Law era. With the Aggie fanbase, we have another groups of fans steamed at being placed in the dreaded 8/9 game. Interesting shoot-around glimpses from a BYU beat reporter who reports that side-by-side, it’s pretty clear why the Aggies should be favored. Good to see the rest of the media is on the ball, debating if they should ask Cougar players about polygamy. Oh, mainstream media, don’t go changing. According to one former Cougar, today’s game is huge to maintain momentum for the program #2 Memphis vs. #15 Cal State Northridge. Line, Memphis -20.5, O/U 121.5 Don’t worry, Memphis, CSN forward Willie Gallick says don’t take the national perception of you to heart. You’re still a great team. I’m sure the Tigers appreciate the compliments, but brown nosing and getting in their good graces probably wont help you much in this game today. Many experts claim the Tigers as the best defensive team in this field. They might need that to come through this month as they still have not shed their reputation of having a less-than-stellar offense. But, consider that since freshmen Tyreke Evans was inserted as point guard, the club has had 13 games where they shot better than 45-percent. And, with improved free throw shooting this season, the Tigers have no qualms packing it in down low and playing a little post game. I don’t expect the “poor” offense to bug them much this weekend. This game is all sorts of trouble for CSN. It’s an early east coast start for a California team. The Tigers are pissed at their seed. In the Big West Title game, CSN struggled often with scoring droughts against Pacific. That reeks of bad news going against a Tiger team who gets off on dismantling your offense. I set their longest field goal drought at 7:30 minutes today. Any takers? #1 UCONN vs. #16 Tenn-Chatanooga. Line, Uconn -20.5, O/U 145.4 Twelve years ago, the Mocs embarked on the ultimate Cinderella run. As a 14-seed, they beat South Carolina in the first round. In the second round, they dug out of a big halftime whole to nip Illinois (way to represent, Illini). Ultimately, the Mocs bowed out to Texas in the Sweet 16, but it was one of the more memorable mid major runs in recent seasons. To duplicate that feat this season, the Mocs would need to pull off an historic upset in the 1/16 game. If they want to win, they can’t lose the game in their minds first. Uh, yeah, it probably wont matter how confident they are. The only doubt is whether or not the Huskies can cover the large number. Huskie fans are so confident they Moc like a Hurricane this morning. #1 North Carolina vs. #16 Radford. Line, UNC -25, O/U 162 The drama in this 1/16 game is whether or not Tar Hell uber point guard Ty Lawson will play and how effective he will be. Scratch that drama as all indications are Lawson will sit again this afternoon. I doubt they’ll need him against Radford, but they wont live up to preseason title hype without their little point guard. Tar Heel bloggers are a bit down on the prospects of the rest of their precious conference. Naturally, they like the Heels chances if Lawson returns. #7 California vs. #10 Maryland. Line, Cal -1, O/U 140.5 A Pac 10/ACC showdown will help determine which coast hoops it up better. Terrapin coach Gary Williams is fired up and takes a few shots at his detractors, including fans who boo. It doesn’t sound like he feels that helps the team perform. Win or lose today, put me in the camp who feels this has been one of Williams better coaching jobs to keep the Terrapin ship from sinking and still making this field. The Bears are an excellent shooting team. Can their usual team effort overcome the one-man show that has become Greivas Vazquez? The standard Q/A between Sports Nation Blogs Testudo Times and California Golden Blog will get you set up for what to expect this afternoon. A Pac 10 Blogger Roundtable deciphers the chances of the entire Pac 10 field. #5 Purdue vs $12 Northern Iowa. Line, PU -8.5, O/U 124 The Missouri Valley traditionally provides us with a March Madness upset or two. Maybe not this year, however, as the Panthers might just be the weakest entrant the MVC has put forth in several years. Purdue observers think so, and despite being in the traditional 5/12 upset window, expect a comfy 15-point win. Like their west coast counterparts, the Big 10 Bloggers did a roundtable of their own to dissect the conference, including some insightful thoughts from Maize ‘N Brew Dave about coaching upgrades in the league. #4 Washington vs. #13 Mississippi State. Line, UW -6, O/U 148.5 Expect a great frontcourt battle in this game with the Huskies Jonathon Brockman and the Bulldogs Jarvis Vernardo highlighting the action. Hopefully the refs will let this game play out and not shackle the big guys. One key to keep an eye on is will the usually aggressive-to-the-goal Huskies maintain that mindset going up against Varnardo, who has more blocks than two-thirds of the 343 NCAA teams, including what might have been the highlight of the season in the SEC Championship game against Tennessee. If facing the SEC Champion with an all world shot blocker isn’t hard enough, will local Portland fans come out to root against the Huskies? UW Dawg fans don’t think it will matter as they expect Brockman and Varnardo to cancel each other out. Claiming that UW has speed and matchup advantages everywhere else, they expect a 9-point UW win. The game might come down to which freshmen point guard, Dee Bost for MSU or Isiah Thomas for UW, plays better. The pair is familiar with one another having gone head-to-head in both high school and prep school. Predictions, sure to go awry *** LSU -1 over Butler. I think Butler is just a bit too young a bit too less-than-vintage to make noise this March. I've loved the Tigers all winter in the SEC and they'll nudge by the Bulldogs today. The line dropped to -1.5 when I went to bet, but I shaved the hook off. So, I have LSU -1 at -120 juice. *** Texas A/M +3 over BYU. I think the Aggies are the better team and have enough defensive stoppers to thwart BYU's guards. I've dogged the MWV all season, might as well put my money where my mouth is. *** Mississippi St +6 over UW. There's a chance I have fallen too in love with the Bulldogs based on what I saw out of them last weekend in the SEC sectional. They're coming togather at the right time. The inside presence of Varnardo and their thre-point ability will cause problems all day for the Huskies. I would not be shocked to see an upset. *** Maryland +1.5 over Cal. The Terps were hot for me down the stretch. I'll stay on them in this one. Williams and Vasquez can squeeze out one more win. Besides, it's smart to take an ACC team over a Pac 10 team i a coin flip. Right?!?! *** And, refering to my previous post, I took the bait on Over 7 wins for the Big 10 and No to any 16-15-14 seed winning a game. Yes, I am a March Madness, Cinderella Scrooge.