As the NCAA March Madness Annual Tournament is finally here, I have an overview of each division. Before making your bracket, consider using some of my information.

MIDWEST
Best Matchup: "Lefty Bowl" - (4) Maryland vs. (13) Davidson. Hide the children when these two meet, or at least keep them out of the way of Gary Williams' perspiration trail without a Swiffert. Davidson, the Southern Conference champion and former stomping grounds of legendary Maryland coach Lefty Driesell may not have enough to talent or size to bring down the Terps, but they certainly know how to put on a good game. Both teams rank in the top 15 in the nation in scoring and each are lead by explosive guard play. Freshman Stephen Curry is a star in the making for the Wildcats and D.J. Strawberry and Grieves Vasquez have developed into one of the ACC's most dangerous backcourts, particularly in transition. The Terps' interior play should carry the day, but not before Terp fans have to sweat it out alongside their coach.

First Round Upset: (12) Old Dominion vs. (5) Butler. It's a buffet of upset clichés when these teams meet. The Lions are hot (winners of their final 12 regular season games), motivated after nearly getting left out of the tournament and in the classic 12-seed upset spot. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, are none of the above. Butler hasn't beaten a team with an RPI better than 100 since Jan. 6 and finished the season 3-4 in its final seven games against Division I opponents. Sure, in November we thought Butler could was a top 25 team. Then again we thought Ohio State was the best football team then, too. 

My Pick: Florida. The Gators can act like they've been there before, and as they proved in the SEC Tournament, play with the hunger like they've never won it before. The Gators are the only team in America that can say with a straight face and finely manicured ponytail that it has one of the nation's five best at each starting position. Marksman Lee Humphrey and playmaker Taurean Green can score from the outside and Al Horford and Joakim Noah can deliver points in the paint. The Gators do have problems defending against dribble penetration which might make a possible second-round showdown with Mustafa Shakur and Arizona closer than expected, but their perimeter defense likely won't be seriously tested in this region.

WEST
Best Matchup: (6) Mike Krzyzewksi might still be arming his players for the future, as the AmEx ad goes, but he certainly isn't arming them with the ability to stop dribble penetration and that could be a problem for these Duke leaders. The Blue Devils aren't exactly slumming with a six seed, but they've drawn an 11 seed with the right tools to make the Duke's trip west the kind of vacation nightmare you'd usually have to fly JetBlue to appreciate. The Rams don't have the talent of Duke's star-studded roster, but they have three all-conference guards that could turn this opening round game into a commercial for disappointment. Led by Eric Maynor, who single-handedly ended George Mason's tournament hopes in the final two minutes of the CAA title game, and backcourt mates B.A. Walker and Jesse Pellot-Rosa, the Rams fit the profile of teams Duke has struggled with this season. Expect the game to come down to the battle for the perimeter. The Rams are an excellent 3-point shooting team (40 percent for the season), but Krzyzewski's defenses pride themselves on taking away the long-range shot. Either way, expect this game to remain tight until the end.

First Round Upset: (9) Villanova (8) Kentucky. It may be a short limb to go out on, but aside from Duke and possibly Pitt, the first-round may play out with painful predictability. Kentucky has yet to beat a ranked team this season and in recent games they've even struggled with the unranked, falling to Alabama and Mississippi State in recent weeks and flirting with disaster against LSU. Tubby Smith's program is 3-6 over its final nine games. Villanova, meanwhile, last lost to a non-tournament team Jan. 13 against Syracuse. On the court, the matchup is even more difficult for the Wildcats who won't be able to contain the speedy Scottie Reynolds or Curtis Sumpter inside.

My Pick: UCLA. The Bruins don't have the athleticism to match the Jayhawks, but they're ever better than last year's national runner-up edition and Kansas' consistency is as much in question as ever. While the Jayhawks are streamrolling into the NCAA Tournament, they're not busting through granite. Other than two impressive wins over Texas, Kansas hasn't beaten another tournament team since Dec. 23 against Boston College. The Bruins, who have beaten five tournament teams since Feb. 1, can control the tempo of a game better than any team in the nation and a Ben Howland coached team won't beat itself.

EAST
Best Matchup: (5) USC vs. (12) Arkansas -- The Razorbacks earned a bid by the hair of coach Stan Heath's hairless chin. But last season's head-scratching inclusion worked out pretty well for the selection committee as George Mason ran all the way to the Final Four. Can the Hogs repeat? Probably not, but they have an excellent chance of winning an opening round game. The Razorbacks have a more complete offense than the Trojans, even if they could take a lesson or two in consistency from Kansas. The Hogs' interior size, led by shotblocker Steven Hill, will pose severe problems for the guard oriented Trojans. USC freshman Taj Gibson has been excellent this season, but may be overwhelmed against Hill, Charles Thomas and Sonny Weems. Patrick Beverly and erratic star Gary Ervin can match USC's talented backcourt of Gabe Pruitt, Lodrick Stewart and swingman Nick Young. Either way, you won't be bored.

First Round Upset: (14) Oral Roberts (3) Washington State. The Golden Eagles proved they can go into seriously hostile territory and walk out with the win when they upset Kansas in Allen Field House. Adding Washington State to their resume should be a cinch afterwards. The Cougars are a veteran club and one of the season's best storylines (even if you realize its coach isn't the Tony Bennett), but Oral Roberts is built with the kind of players March miracles are made of. Star Ken "King" Tutt drilled the game-winner in the Mid-Continent final and microwave Marchello Veally can score in bunches when he's hot -- he scored 22 in the upset of Kansas. But the biggest problem for the Cougars, the Pac-10's worst rebounding team, biggest problem may be containing forward Caleb Green. It's been a Cinderella story for the perennial last-place Cougars, but the ending may be abrupt.

My Pick: Georgetown. The Hoyas are one of the nation's hottest teams, winning 15 of its final 16 games, and one of the few capable of dictating tempo to North Carolina. The Hoyas don't just take the air out of the ball, they take the cover off it too before feeding it to either Jeff Green or Roy Hibbert for an easy score. Georgetown doesn't have the star power of Durant or Wright, but they'll be able to divide the court in half against either the Tar Heels or Texas. An efficient team, Georgetown may not be the most exciting thing going, but they're the team to beat in the East.

SOUTH
Best Matchup: (6) Louisville vs. (11) Stanford -- How close was Stanford to getting left out of the NCAA Tournament? Think by a margin closer to Brook Lopez's hair rather than Robin Lopez' flop-top fuzz. But now that they're in, the Cardinal has a fighting chance to make a deep run into the tournament. The opening round matchup with Louisville is the region's most intriguing, pitting the size and talent of the Lopez brothers against the improving Cardinals. And don't think for a second that the Cardinal won't find any friendly fans in Lexington, Kent. Expect the battle of the paint to define the top opening-round matchup in the East. Despite its resurgence, Louisville has struggled against bigger teams and in the Lopez twins, Stanford has two players that have blocked more shots than seven other Pac-10 teams. Despite the seeding, the track record, if not the travel, favors Stanford. The Cardinal has proven it can play with, and beat, any team in the nation while Louisville can only claim wins over Marquette and Pitt among tournament teams.

First Round Upset: (13) Albany over (4) Virginia. A season ago, Albany nearly made history as the first 16 seed to upset a No. 1 seed when it took Connecticut to the wire. Now the Great Danes are back to finish the job. Albany starts a pair of seniors, including do-it-all star Jamar Wilson, who leads the team in scoring, rebounding and assists and while its frontcourt is unspectacular, the Cavaliers can't counter with any punch from their post either. The Wahoos have the best two players on the court in guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, but neither is efficient and neither has been particularly hot recently. Singletary has hit just 32 percent of his shots in the past seven games while J.R. Reynolds is barely above 20 percent in his last three. That number of possessions taken out of the offense will cripple the Cavaliers against Albany.

My Pick: Ohio State. There isn’t much to say about this pick. Oden is the number one defensive player in the NCAA. He really can’t be stopped, unless a quick man can stop his breakaways. Other then that, the Buckeyes really have a great shot at winning this tournament.

THE FINAL FOUR
If you read everything in this article, you would know now that my picks are Florida, UCLA, Georgetown, and OSU. My final picks would have to be OSU and Florida. They truly are the best this year in my opinion, and are the top two rankings. The most interesting things is they have already faced each other in a championship. The BCS National Championship to be exact. That game was supposed to be a blowout. OSU should have destroyed Florida. Instead, Florida won, 41 - 14. A blowout on Florida's end. If Florida is expected to win this, possessing number one overall pick, then OSU might have a chance in the pattern keeps.

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