NCAA Tournament is here!

It is finally here, the NCAA tournament. The ACC was able to get seven bids to the tournament this year, tied for the most of any conference. Here is a quick look at what ACC teams made it, where they are at, and who their first game is against.

Duke - #2 seed in East Region. Made tournament as ACC's automatic qualifier for being champion of the conference. First game is against #15 Binghamton on Thursday. Chances: Obviously, very good for their first round game. Duke should win this game easily, but I doubt they will be looking past them as they almost lost to Belmont (who was also a #15 seed) last year.

UNC - #1 seed in the South region. 13th time as a #1 seed, most all-time. UNC has been considered as one of the top, if not the top, team in the country all year long. First game is against #16 Radford on Thursday. Chances: Will win. Simple as that. Ty Lawson probably won't be needed to win this game and might could take these extra couple of days off to prepare for what could be a slightly scary second round game against LSU.

Wake Forest - #4 seed in Midwest region. I personally thought Wake got shafted a little and should have been on the 3 line. The ACC was considered the #1 conference by RPI and their top 3 teams got 1,2, and 4 seeds while the Big East got 3 #1 seeds! Wake should have been a 3 seed in my opinion. Never the less, their first game is against #13 Cleveland State on Friday. Chances: Wake should win, but need to watch out. Wake is a team that could be vulnerable to an upset if they have one of their cold shooting nights, and Cleveland St. is an experienced, veteran team. I give Wake about an 85% chance to advance.

Florida State - #5 seed in East Region. Good seeding for FSU, and a well deserved one for their body of work. Toney Douglas is a star, and he carried this team for the majority of the year. Their first game is against #12 seed Wisconsin out of the Big Ten, on Friday. This is an extremely tough first game for the 'Noles. Wisconsin is always fundamentally sound and rarely beats themselves. Bo Ryan has been here before and FSU hasn't been here in forever. This game scares me if I am a Seminoles fan. I will probably pick FSU, but this game is a toss up in my opinion. The good news for Florida State is that if you can win your first game, I like your chances of getting to the sweet 16.

Clemson - #7 seed in West region. Clemson floundered down the stretch or could have gotten a better seed. This forces them to play a decent Michigan team in the first round and probably, if they win, play Oklahoma, a tournament favorite, in round two. Tough draw for Prunell's Tigers. Chances: Clemson is an on one night, off the next type of team and that is never good when in a one and done situation. Clemson is the higher seed, but I tend to think Michigan will win this game. Even if Clemson wins in round one, I don't see them beating Memphis in round two. Teams that struggle coming down the stretch (see Duke the last two years) usually don't suddenly turn it around in the NCAA tournament.

Boston College - #7 seed in Midwest region. Al Skinner did a great job with his team this year and got them into the field. The 7 seed is always tough as your first round game is against a good team, and then you are extremely likely to play the 2 seed if you win. First game for BC is against #10 USC, who snuck into the field by winning the PAC-10 tournament. Looks to be a decent match-up for BC in the first round, as defending their flex offense takes discipline and defensive concentration, two things USC did not show consistently this season. I give the Eagles a solid chance in round one, but then will, in all likelihood, play Michigan St. in round two. This game will probably end their tournament run.

Maryland - #10 seed in West region. This could be one of Gary Williams' best coaching jobs in his years at Maryland. They don't have a player over 6'7" and that is Dave Neal, who is not a star by any means. Earned their way into the tournament by playing well. First game is against #7 seed California. This is a tough draw for the Terps. Cal is a perimeter oriented team (which may help Maryland a little because of their lack of size) and have a bunch of good shooters from the perimeter. Maryland has a chance in this game, but I would put it slightly under 50 percent. If they win round one, they will then play Memphis in round two, who is a final four favorite.

This is always one of the best times of the year if you are a college basketball fan and this tournament should be great as usual. Below I have a link to espn.com, where you can print out brackets.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/bracket