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NCAA

It's March. Do you know what time it is? It's March Madness, the NCAA Mens 
Basketball Tournament. The time of the year when you see commercials on CBS 
announcing the Road to the Final Four, the pinnacle of the college basketball year. Each

year 64 teams vie for a spot in the Final Four. Teams from the East, Midwest, Southwest,

and West all compete for one spot from each division. The teams that play for one of 
these spots can be classified into four different groups. The Number 1 through 4 seeds, 
the Cinderella teams, the Bubble teams and the One Hit Wonders. 
The Number 1 through 4 seeds make up 1/4 of the tournament. These teams are 
the strongest teams in the nation and are usually figured to go to the Final Four. The 
teams ranked Number 1 in their bracket have the best chance of going to the Final Four. 
Since 1980 at least one Number 1seed has gone to the Final Four. The number one 
seeded team has also never been beaten in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The 
teams that are 1 through 4 this year, and figure to be playing for the National 
Championship, are Kentucky, UMass, Purdue, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Utah, Villanova, 
and Arizona. All of these teams had to have had tremendous regular seasons and 
conference tournaments to be seeded so high. 
On the other hand a Cinderella team is a team that had a so-so regular season 
and upset a higher ranked team in their conference tournament. They ride that wave of 
momentum into the Field of 64 and hope to upset another higher ranked team in the first 
and second rounds. These teams usually don't last farther than the Sweet Sixteen where 
their season usually comes to an end. Teams that can be classified into this group are
the 
10 through 14 seeds. Teams that fall into this category are Clemson, Virginia 
Commonwealth, Austin Peay, Cansius, and Santa Clara. 
Out of these Cinderella teams, many of them were teams on the Bubble. These 
teams finished with a so-so regular season also but also had a so-so conference 
tournament. They had to sweat it out and hope for other teams to falter and the selection

committee to be generous for these teams to make it. Once in the tournament these teams 
can be transformed into a Cinderella team by beating two higher seeded teams. Teams on 
the Bubble are ranked 7 through 9. The teams that can be classified into this category or

groupings are Michigan, Stanford, Bradley, Wisconsin-Green Bay, and Eastern Michigan. 
That leaves the last grouping of teams. The One Hit Wonders. Their describes 
them perfectly. They usually upset one team then bow out of the tourney in the second 
round. The teams in this category might prematurely be labeled a Cinderella team, but 
after exiting the tournament in the second round they cannot be given this title. These 
teams can be ranked anywhere from 6 through 15. Teams from this group are Mississippi 
Valley, Louisville, Iowa, Indiana, Princeton, and Monmouth. 
So as one can see there are many different ways to view the teams from the Field 
of 64. From the Number 1's through Number 4's to the One-Hit Wonders there are many 
teams with a shot at winning the NCAA National Championship. You might ask, Which 
team do you feel will win the National Championship? I feel the National Championship 
will go to the Georgetown Hoyas ( a Number 2 seed ) out of the East.