NCAA tournament guide: Players, teams and games to watch in this year's bracket - Washington Post

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NCAA tournament guide: Players, teams and games to watch in this year's bracket - Washington Post Mar 14th 2012, 18:22 Last season seemed like a confluence of chaos, but this year's bracket has the potential to match it after the top four teams in the AP Top 25 went down last week. Kentucky, Syracuse, Michigan State and North Carolina got the No. 1 nods from the tournament selection committee. All four have their faults, though, particularly the Orangemen, who will be playing without center Fab Melo. To get you ready for the action, we've got a rundown of what to look for leading up to the title game in New Orleans on April 2. ___ PLAYERS TO WATCH Thomas Robinson, Kansas. Big, powerful, agile, dominating, player of the year candidate. Jared Sullinger, Ohio State. See "Thomas Robinson, Kansas." Anthony Davis, Kentucky. Scores, blocks shots, dominates. You get the idea. Doug McDermott, Creighton. Third in the nation with 23.2 points per game, shot 61 percent from the field and that's-not-a-typo 49 percent from 3. This year's Jimmer? Peyton Siva, Louisville. That teardrop of his could bring rain. Draymond Green, Michigan State. Does it all, seems to know it all on the court. Austin Rivers, Duke. Hit that big 3-pointer to beat North Carolina, can take over games down the stretch. Isaiah Canaan, Murray State. He's the main reason the Racers are in the dance. ___ UPSET POTENTIAL Every year there are high seeds that win games they're not supposed to win and shatter brackets. Remember 13th-seeded Morehead State's first-round takedown of No. 4 Louisville last year? Yeah, we're still bitter about that, too. Here's a few potential opening-round upsets to consider. Colorado State over Murray State, West Regional. The Racers, the sixth seed in the West, like to shoot the 3 and have Isaiah Canaan. The 11th-seeded Rams have seen teams and players like this before. Virginia Commonwealth over Wichita State. The Rams were panned for getting into the NCAA Tournament last year, then went to the Final Four. Why not again? Colorado over UNLV. The 11th seed in the South, the Buffaloes were a surprise winner at the Pac-12 tournament. The sixth-seeded Rebels have had some shaky moments and lost in the Mountain West semifinals to New Mexico after blowing a big lead. Western Kentucky over Kentucky. Sorry, just checking to see if you're still paying attention. ___ NUMBERS 5-2 — Odds for Kentucky to win the title, lowest by oddsmaker Mike Colbert of Cantor Gaming. 6-1 — Odds for Ohio State to win the title, second-best despite being a No. 2 seed. 1-100 million trillion — Odds of picking every game right by flipping a coin. 5 — Teams from North Carolina in the NCAA tournament: North Carolina, Duke, N.C. State, UNC-Asheville, Davidson. 9 — NCAA tournament bids by the Big East, most of any conference. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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