NCAA Tournament Preview: Powerhouses Prevail on Selection Sunday

Spring can be a favorite season for a variety of reasons. Those of Irish descent celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Thousands of high school students celebrate Spring Break by traveling to exotic locations for a two week party. Religious beings and chocolate lovers celebrate Easter in Spring. This time of the year, calendars are also accompanied by a big X from sports fans all over the nation while they exhaust themselves with brackets and are overcome with a disease known as March Madness.

Rankings for the 2008 NCAA Tournament were announced Sunday and while some teams who earned a trip to the big dance were a mild surprise, the powerhouses from years past all earned spots as expected.

UNC, UCLA, Memphis, and Kansas all earned #1 seeds with UNC earning the overall #1 spot. It is the 12th time UNC has earned the #1 ranking in NCAA history, while Tennessee failed to receive a #1 seed after a season in which they were #1 in RPI ranking.

Texas-Arlington will be making their first ever appearance in the tournament as they earned a #16 seed in the South region and will face #1 Memphis in the 1st round. Fellow newcomer UMBC will make its tournament debut against Georgetown in the opening round of the Midwest region.

The defending champion Florida Gators missed the tournament after losing in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Other notable teams missing the cut include: Ohio State, Dayton, Illinois State, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, Mississippi, and Massachusetts.

Games officially begin this Tuesday when Coppin State battles Mount St. Mary's with the winner moving on to face UNC. The rest of the first round games are to be played later in the week, the Final Four is scheduled to be played April 5th, and the final to be played on the 7th in San Antonio, Texas.

EAST

#1 UNC
#2 Tennessee
#3 Louisville
#4 Washington State
#5 Notre Dame
#6 Oklahoma
#7 Butler
#8 Indiana
#9 Arkansas
#10 South Alabama
#11 Saint Joseph's
#12 George Mason
#13 Winthrop
#14 Boise State
#15 American University
#16 Coppin State/Mount St. Mary's

SOUTH

#1 Memphis
#2 Texas
#3 Stanford
#4 Pittsburgh
#5 Michigan State
#6 Marquette
#7 Miami
#8 Mississippi State
#9 Oregon
#10 St. Mary's
#11 Kentucky
#12 Temple
#13 Oral Roberts
#14 Cornell
#15 Austin Peay
#16 Texas-Arlington

MIDWEST

#1 Kansas
#2 Georgetown
#3 Wisconsin
#4 Vanderbilt
#5 Clemson
#6 USC
#7 Gonzaga
#8 UNLV
#9 Kent State
#10 Davidson
#11 Kansas State
#12 Villanova
#13 Siena
#14 Cal State Fullerton
#15 UMBC
#16 Portland State

WEST

#1 UCLA
#2 Duke
#3 Xavier
#4 Connecticut
#5 Drake
#6 Purdue
#7 West Virginia
#8 Brigham Young
#9 Texas A&M
#10 Arizona
#11 Baylor
#12 Western Kentucky
#13 San Diego
#14 Georgia
#15 Belmont
#16 Mississippi Valley State