10:10 AM EDT
Welcome to my NCAA Tournament Day 1 Live blog.  Today is, by far my favorite day of the sporting calendar.  No day combines the sheer amount of action with the dazzling array of story lines and opportunities for history to be written.  My day, with the exception of Scrabble Club tonight, is dedicated to college basketball.

College basketball has been my favorite sport since high school, at least.  Perhaps it was a way of overcompensating for my inability to play the game.  Later, as a college student, and an employee of a D1 Athletic Department, I really came to understand just how great an institution college basketball, and especially the NCAA tournament, really is. 

For so many of the schools involved, making the tournament is, in and of itself, an affirmation of their effort and hard work.  The reward for a season of long bus rides and guarantee games is one chance to stand on the same court with a national power, and hope their slingshot has enough magic in it to take down a Goliath.  And we watch, because every once in a while, it does. I am, and will always be, a Pitt fan... but a part of me, even today, is rooting for Oral Roberts.

My games to watch today: 
Pitt-ORU- The first step for the Panthers, but unlike previous first round matchups for the Panthers, ORU has tournament experience, and will not be intimidated.
BYU-Texas A&M- Why? 1. I'm Mormon.  Go Cougars.  2. An interesting matchup, between a strong non-major that doesn't get the respect it deserves, and a major that's really not as good as the record suggests. 
Xavier-Georgia- Can Xavier recover from a disappointing A10 Tourney exit?  Can Georgia continue their miracle run?  On pure talent, Xavier should run away with this... but it's March, it's tourney time, and sometimes, you can't help but root for Cinderella.

And of Course, My  Bracket Picks:






*Style note:  There is a pestilence on the college basketball landscape.  It is at a school in Durham, North Carolina, and I refuse to refer to it by its name (scrabblers:  this is analogous to my use of J.W. Smith).  It will go by the name Evil in all live-blogging efforts.  Today, I am the biggest Belmont Bruin fan around.

So my final four is UNC, KU, Pitt, and UCLA.  KU and UCLA play for the title, and UCLA cuts down the nets on April 7th.

Any comments ideas or thoughts are welcome.  See ya at Noon.