It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Day One

It's that time again, the Madness of March is upon us. Much less stabby than the Ides.

I'm not bothering prognosticating beyond each day, other than to suggest that 4 of the Sweet 16 will be from the PAC-10, and UCLA will be in the Championship game, depends who they face whether or not they win it all, but that would be 3 consecutive Final Fours, with two Championship Games thrown in (assuming they go all the way this year), the Bruins haven't been to shabby under Ben Howland (and I'm even picking them despite their glowing endorsement from My Nemesis Bill Simmons™).

As far as today's match-ups, I'm going to use a very complicated set of matrices to determine which teams should win or lose, here's the breakdowns of all 16 games (expected winning team always listed first, and yes, I stole the whole 'let's talk about the mascots as if they have some meaningful determination as to the outcome of the game' thing from here):

(5) Notre Dame Fighting Irish v (12) George Mason Patriots
Notre Dame has had a good season so far, going 24-7 while playing in the extremely tough Big East, but if they get up ended in the first round it will be all for naught. Two years ago George Mason made it all the way to the Final Four, and they have two starters from that team. I don't see this being one of the 12 upsetting a 5 games this year, though. Plus if you go by team names, I think you have to love the Irish's chances to pound the Patriots, especially with St. Pats day having been this week (unless the team's collective hangover catches up with them, and assuming there's even a single player on the team who is actually Irish). Pick, Notre Dame

(11) Baylor Bears v (6) Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue played well in conference, but their conference sucks this year, and they lost to a lousy Illinois team in their conference tourney. I don't think you bounce back from that. Baylor has been turned around after a pretty hellish situation a five years ago. Scott Drew will have his team ready to at least pull off a first round upset. Plus, Bears drink Boilermakers for breakfast, so if you are going by team names, then clearly the Bears have a huge advantage. Pick, Baylor

(1) UCLA Bruins v (16) Missippi Valley State Delta Devils
No contest, a one won't be losing to a 16 anytime soon, and even if it were to happen, UCLA won't be the one one to go down. Despite an awesome team name, MVS simply won't have enough to get the job done. Pick UCLA

(1) Kansas Jayhawks v (16) Portland State Vikings
Kansas will roll in this one, or romp, or crush a lot. Either way, an easy win over an overmatched team from the other Rip City (Santa Monica's the only real Rip City). Another contest where you have to ignore the team with the more aggressive, and or deadly, team name usually wins rubric. Pick, Kansas

(14) Cal State Fullerton Titans v (3) Wisconsin Badgers
We don't need no stinkin' Badgers getting past the first round. The whole Big Ten stunk this year, not that the Big West is a superior conference, but the Titans beat some good teams in their tourney to advance, and they have some talented players, so they'll be one of three teams from Southern California to make it to the next round (UCLA and USC being the others). Wisconsin has a huge size advantage, but the Titans can really shoot the ball, and if their shooters stay hot, they'll outscore a plodding Wisconsin team. Also, going by team names, how can you beat the freakin' Titans with a lousy bunch of Badgers? Pick, Cal State Fullerton

(2) Duke Blue Devils v (15) Belmont Bruins
The Bruins will beat Duke, just not these Bruins. Pick, Duke

(3) Stanford Cardinal v (14) Cornell Big Red
Yeah, yeah, yeah, both schools are full of Brainiacs, you've got Ivy League v Northern California's quasi-Ivy League school. This won't be a battle of SAT scores, it will be hoops, and in hoops, Stanford has a huge advantage. Enjoy your trip to Disneyland Big Red, that'll be your consolation prize for getting beat up in Anaheim by different shade of red (and how smart can their students be when they name their sports teams after a color?). Pick, Stanford

(3) Xavier Musketeers v (14) Georgia Bulldogs
Georgia had an amazing run in their tourney to sneak into the big dance with an automatic bid. Xavier is a much better team and will prove it on the court. Georgia's great conference tournament won't earn them any victories in the real tournament. Besides, I'll take a team of Musketeers over a bunch of dogs with serious breathing problems any day. Pick, Xavier

(4) Pittsburgh Panters v (13) Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
If I were running Oral Roberts, I would have picked a team name that reflected the religious nature of that school, something like the Oral Roberts Bleeding Jesuses has a nice ring to it. It is the Blood of the Christ that washes our sins away and helps their teams to victory, plus they could call themselves the Oral BJs for short. Pick, Pittsburgh

(12) Temple Owls v (5) Michigan State Spartans
Another overrated Big Ten team facing a team from a real conference. Temple's been up and down this year, but they'll put together a good enough game to make you forget they are a 12 seed. Besides, owls are tough old birds, while Spartans may be military men, but they revel in glorious defeat a bit too much. Pick, Temple.

(4) Washington State Cougars v (13) Winthrop Eagles
Washington State started out great this year, then faltered a bit in the PAC-10. Too many good teams to play night in night out, but they're a very good team, with great depth and plenty of skill. They'll have no trouble advancing past this weekend. Besides a Cougar could rip an Eagle to shreds, but it would be an interesting fight. Pick, WSU

(6) Marquette Golden Eagles v (11) Kentucky Wildcats
Kentucky started the season terribly, and have improved ever since, while Marquette have been a little up and down towards the end of the season, but they did reach the Big East tournament Final, losing to a very good Pittsburgh team, and they should be able to put together a good enough game to get past the Wildcats. I know I just said that a Cougar could rip an Eagle to shreds, but Wildcats aren't quite as tough as Cougars, and generic Eagles aren't as tough as Golden Eagles, so in this case, the Eagle will rip the cat to shreds. Pick, Marquette

(9) Texas A&M Aggies v (8) Brigham Young Cougars
This is a pick 'em game, not alot separates these two teams. I think the Aggies have a slight edge, but I can't give you any good reason as to why that should be. The winner gets to face UCLA next round, so the difference between winning and losing will be only one more game. From a team name standpoint there's no justification for this pick, Aggies is a seriously messed up team name. Pick, Texas A&M

(8) UNLV Rebels v (9) Kent State Golden Flashes
Another game where it's hard to figure out who will win. And another match-up where the winning team will end up facing a formidable 1 seed for their trouble. I'm going with the Rebels, even if they don't Run like they used to. Pick, UNLV

(10) Arizona Wildcats v (7) West Virginia Mountaineers
The Wildcats haven't had a very good season, compiling a record of 19-14 along the way. But the PAC-10 was brutal this year, and they had injury problems. They appear to be healthier and ready to possibly cause a little trouble in the tournament, don't be too surprised if they make it to the Sweet 16. West Virginia aren't a bad team, they just got seeded against the wrong 10 seed. Pick, Arizona

(6) USC Trojans v (11) Kansas State Wildcats
It's great freshman standout versus even greater freshman standout in the most intriguing game being played Thursday. OJ Mayo has a better supporting cast than Michael Beasley, but they'll both be playing in different uniforms next season. Beasley might look pretty good next to a healthy Dwayne Wade in Miami, and OJ Mayo might fit in pretty well with Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City/Seattle. As far as the game goes, should be fun to watch, but as has already been established in my previous picks, I'm not picking against any PAC-10 teams on this day, and USC isn't going to be any different. Pick, USC

To summarize half my picks, I'm picking against all 3 Big Ten schools playing today, cause the Big Ten really sucked this year, and I'm picking for all 5 Pac Ten teams, cause that conference was the best conference this year, and facing quality opponents night in night out will have all these teams honed and ready to perform well in the "Big Dance".

As far as the other 8 picks, no real pattern emerges, outside of the over-rated Big Ten schools (and the under-rated Arizona team), the favorites should do fine today.