Shockers Court-Side

Anyone that thinks Wichita State is overlooking or not taking even Cal-Poly serious. This team has the look in their eye that is even more confident than their run to the Final Four in last years +NCAA Men's Basketball March Madness. Impressive by the +Wichita State Shockers!

.@GoShockers celebrate a hot start. http://t.co/1jGBTiBLvO by @ATT pic.twitter.com/NdComuPc5Z

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 22, 2014

NCAA Tourney Starting Schedule and Slate of Match ups: Printable Bracket

Florida is the overall top seed in the NCAA tournament, and will be joined on the '1' line by Arizona, +University of Virginia, and Wichita State.

The selection committee released its pairings Sunday, not long after the Gators defeated Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament final to bring their winning streak to 26 games.

Fifth-seeded +University of Cincinnati Bearcats takes on No. 12 +Harvard University in Spokane, Wash. on Thursday.

On Tuesday, Xavier will play fellow 12 seed North Carolina State in a First Four game in Dayton. The winner advances to play St. Louis in Orlando.

The Kentucky Wildcats opens up against +Kansas State University, in an 8-9 matchup. That game will be played in St. Louis. Meanwhile rival +Louisville Cardinals, a surprising No. 4 seed, opens up action against Manhattan.

Both Commonwealth schools are in the Midwest Region.

In an all-Ohio battle, the sixth-seeded +Ohio State Buckeyes take on the 11 seed, +Dayton Flyers, in Buffalo, N.Y. on Thursday.

+Florida Gators is seeded first (number one overall seed) in the South Region. On Thursday, the Gators play the winner of a First Four game between +Albany Devils and St. Mary's.

+Arizona Wildcats got top billing in the West Region despite losing to +UCLA Bruins in the +Pac-12 Conference final Saturday. The Wildcats will open Friday against +Weber State University.

+Wichita State is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region — that includes Big Ten regular season champs, +University of Michigan and AAC regular season and tournament champs, Louisville, who joined the Shockers in the Final Four last year. The reigning NCAA Div. 1 Champions are seeded fourth. The Wolverines are seeded second.

+Kansas Jayhawks earned the No. 2 seed in the South Region and +Wisconsin Badgers are No. 2 in the West.

First Four matchups involving bubble teams are +Iowa Hawkeyes against +Tennessee Vols, as well as the previously stated XU and N.C. State contest.

Free Fillable Online Brackets Found Here and Printable Brackets Linked to Bracket:

NCAA Tournament 2014: Bracket reactions, instant analysis

Original by Ryan Fagan (Slight changes by +Marleigh Crews) 
+Sporting News 

East Region

Yes, +University of Virginia, there is a No. 1 seed. The committee clearly rewarded the accomplishment of winning the ACC in the regular season and the tournament. And it seems the loss to Seton Hall was very damaging to Villanova.

But, of course, the big news here was the reveal of the final at-large teams. +SMU Mustangs, +Florida State Seminoles, +UWGB (Green Bay at Wisconsin) and +Georgetown University, were the first four teams out. 

The lowest at-large team in this region is, in fact, ninth-seeded +George Washington University Colonials, which seems odd. You have auto bids at 10 (St. Joe's) , 11 (+Providence Friars), 12 (+Harvard University) and 13 (+University of Delaware).

Big East member, Villanova, their Head Coach, Jay Wright on readying up for +NCAA Men's Basketball March Madness 

MORE: Interactive bracket | Printable | Should you bet against the top seeds?

Seed-wise, I thought +North Carolina Tar Heels would get a 5 and +University of Cincinnati Bearcats, +UConn, and +Michigan State Athletics might be a line up, but that’s not a big deal.

Midwest Region

The stunner in most folks’ minds will be +Louisville Cardinals Athletics as a No. 4 seed. I had them as a No. 3 seed because of their awful, awful non-conference schedule, but there’s no way I thought they would be down as far as a fourth seed, not with the way they blew through the AAC Tournament. That’s surprising. Very surprising, Sports CR3W felt along with Michigan State as a 4. No #1 seed should face those two teams who look to be at full strength currently in the sweet 16 / Regional Finals. Both won their perspective conference tournaments as evidenced.

Speaking of surprisingly low seeds … +Kentucky Wildcats Athletics as an 8 seed? That’s unexpected. It’s a brutal bracket for No. 1 seed +Wichita State, with those two on the top half of the bracket, not to mention +Duke Basketball as a No. 3 seed and +Michigan Wolverines as a 2.

Final Four Seeds (Paul Nisely/SN Illustration)(AP Photos)

PHOTOS: Biggest NCAA Tournament first-round upsets

The crushing reveal in this bracket was when +North Carolina State University got a surprising bid over other potential at-large candidates. The Wolfpack clearly punched their ticket with their ACC Tournament victory against +Syracuse Orange.

West Region

Where to start? A handful of surprising seeds handed out in this region. +BYU, whom +SPORTS CR3W had as "out" to surely +SMU Mustangs, even Green Bay or the Seminoles. The WCC is a one bid conference this year. Very surprising that they got in, let alone as a 10 seed. They had one good win versus the +Texas Longhorns (a 7 seed). Win you look at good wins and then bad losses. BYU played 5 games, all losses, but one, against teams with an RPI of 135 or worse. +San Diego State Athletics was given a No. 4 seed, which is almost stunning considering +UNM (New Mexico) — which beat the Aztecs twice this year — was a 7 seed in the South. Befuddling.

And we have a couple of thoroughly entertaining potential matchups with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. +Oklahoma State Athletics winds up as a No. 9 seed, and if the Cowboys get past the overseeded +Gonzaga Bulldogs — hint, they will — they’ll face top seed Arizona. That will be a fantastic matchup, or at least a very entertaining matchup.

Then, maybe 11th-seeded +Nebraska Cornhuskers  against third-seeded +Creighton University? Of course, the Cornhuskers — the most out-of-nowhere success story this year — first have to play Baylor in the opener. And nobody wants to play the red-hot Bears right about now.

Here Nebraska's Head Coach Tim Miles Touching on the match up versus the +Baylor Athletics Basketball Team

South Region

Honestly, I was a little surprised +Virginia Commonwealth University was as high as a No. 5 seed, but I was a lot surprised that New Mexico wound up as a No. 7 seed. The Lobos beat San Diego State twice — once during the regular season and then again in the Mountain West championship game. Add in a win against Cincinnati — the top seed in the American tournament — and solid computer numbers — the Lobos were 13th in the RPI and 28th in the Pomeroy ratings, and I thought they deserved a seed as high as five.

Also, love the fact that +Ohio State Buckeyes has to play in-state foe +University of Dayton Flyers Flyers. That’ll be intense. Zero surprise about Florida as the top overall seed, or Kansas as a No. 2. The +Kansas Jayhawks struggled, at times, without Joel Embiid, but their resume is beyond reproach, despite the nine losses. Have noticed that Kansas has been able to play in the states of Kansas or Missouri in their last three NCAA Tournaments of the top of our heads'. It might even be more. We understand that they're a locale ideal for the Midwest area of the country but it is a trend we've noticed as the Tar Heels have fallen victim to it the last couple match ups vs the Jayhawks.


+Brought to you by +CBS Sports, Kansas Head Coach Bill Self