By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

These next three weeks are my favorite time of the sporting year. No offense to the Super Bowl or College football playoffs, and I mean no slight to the NBA Finals

or World Series, but nothing is better than the unpredictability and difficulty of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s the best sporting event of the year, with no shortage of interesting matchup and intriguing storylines.

That said, without bringing up snubs or seeding issues, here are a few things that stick out heading into the opening round.

1- Duke was the overall number 1 seed and their region reflects that. Michigan State has been really good this season, but I don’t think they match up well with the Devils and Izzo’s lack of success against them in years past does not instill confidence.

LSU has the length and athleticism, but with their off the court distractions and lack of experience in this type of atmosphere they are primed to be upset early.

Virginia Tech beat Duke a few weeks ago, but that was in Blacksburg, with no Zion.

That’s not to say neither of these teams can win, or that another team couldn’t pull the upset, but the number one overall seed should have the easiest path, and you could argue Duke has it.

2- John Calipari could be in a region with fifteen Division III teams and he’d still complain. Kentucky has the most difficult road to the Final Four. This year, he has a legit argument. North Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn, and Iowa State are all talented enough to make it to Minneapolis. Even the lower seeded teams could cause problems.

3- Do yourself a solid and make sure you get in front of a tv for the Marquette/Murray State game. I have no idea how the actual game will play out, but you may not see two more exciting players at one time than Markus Howard and Ja Morant.

Imagine how painful a potential Virginia/Cincinnati matchup would be and then envision the exact opposite; that should be Marquette and Murray State.

4- Florida State is poised to make a run- outside of Michigan I think they’re the second best team in their region- which means they’ll probably go down to Vermont.

5- Tennessee may have wanted a number one seed, but they couldn’t have asked to be in a better spot than they are. They are by far the best team in their half of the bracket and I would favor them against Virginia. I’ve stated this before, but the only question mark is Rick Barnes. He’s done less with more, and hasn’t advanced past the opening weekend in his last seven tries.

6- There always seems to be one double digit seed that makes it to the Sweet Sixteen; my bet this year is Belmont. They get a Temple team they should beat, a Maryland team they could easily beat, and probably an LSU team they will give fits to.

Had Belmont won their conference championship they could easily be an eight seed. This is a talented, disciplined team that could make it to the second weekend.

There are numerous other story lines and matchups that could easily top any of the things I just mentioned, which is the beauty of this tournament.

We all think we know how this will play out, but if past tournament brackets have taught us anything, the only thing predictable about the NCAA Tournament is it’s completely unpredictable.