Thursday open thread: Who are your Final Four teams?

But in the NCAA tournament, there are at least 16 to 18 teams that have a shot of winning it all which builds suspense and creates excitement. The publication noted that in six years, “Obama has nailed only one national champion: North Carolina in 2009 …”

Cinderella team: Similar to the fairytale character, this represents an underdog team that ends up being more successful than its expected tournament performance. But there are good games up and down the schedule. Like in 2013 when nine seed Wichita State rolled through to the Final Four but lost to Louisville. Gonzaga is a No. 1 seed after making it to the NCAA tournament with just one loss while three-fourths of the Pac-12’s four bids earned No. 2 (Arizona) or No. 3 (Oregon, UCLA) seeds. It’s a bear to prepare for during the regular season when teams know it’s coming with three or four days of preparation time. From the heartland, though, the main land-grant universities with special meaning to me in the tournament field this year are K-State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Michigan State, South Dakota State, Wisconsin and Purdue. The NCAA takes that as “well, they must not be that good”. Every matchup is unique though, so the fact that some No. 13 seed upset a No. 4 seed previously has no relevance to me. Each of those sites has a four-game slate on the day, which more-or-less breaks down: early afternoon, mid-afternoon, evening, late-night.

As is the case every year in the NCAA tournament, fans can expect upsets early and often in this year’s version of the Big Dance.

Numerous early games in the 67-contest series will be played during the game – when most people are supposed to be working.

This Duke team could easily win the whole thing. Regardless if both free throws are made, you’d have about 10-15 seconds to run a play and potentially tie or win the game.

I’m also really high on Winthrop and SMU this year, so we’ll see if my Cinderella picks can make the Sweet 16 runs that I predicted.

Although gambling for brackets in workplace and office pools is always discouraged, Tootell said there are still plenty of reasons people enjoy the tournament. The American Gaming Association estimates that about 70 million brackets will be filled out this season. If you watch college basketball it’s safe to strategically choose the two teams, but if you’re not, then go with your gut. The games on Friday are split on television between CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV. Carroll is also aggressive on the offensive glass, grabbing nearly three offensive rebounds per game and scoring 63 percent of the time on those putbacks.

No. 6 Creighton vs. Or it could be Florida, Florida State, UCLA and MI.