Five Must-See NCAA Tournament First Round Games

Written by Jeff Fox | 16 March 2010

The Madness is almost upon us.  The wonderful time every year where we can plant ourselves on the couch and watch basketball for 12 hours straight on the tube.  16 NCAA games on Thursday, 16 more on Friday.  What could be better than that?!  But, obviously, not all the games are created equal, so you need to know which games are the ones you really have to go out of your way to catch (not that you are planning on leaving your couch except for occasional bathroom breaks).  So here is The Hoops Manifesto's five must-see NCAA Tournament First Round games.

UTEP vs Butler (Thurs, 5:00pm)

It's always good to see mid-major schools get their time in the sun and on national TV.  Plus UTEP is my UPSET SPECIAL!  I think they are way better than a 12 seed.  Now that I said that your best bet is probably to put your money on Butler.  Plus, can you really beat a team whose best player can spit a rhyme like Gordon "G-Time" Hayward can?  He's too big yo.

ETSU vs Kentucky (Thurs, 7:10pm)

No, this won't be a close game - the Wildcats will maul East Tennessee State (but in a couple of years I'm sure all of Kentucky's wins from this year will be stricken from the record books, so take heart ETSU fans).  No, this game is must-see because Kentucky has at least four future NBA first round draft picks, lead by that John Wall cat, who is must-see all on his own.

Wake Forest vs Texas (Thurs, 9:45pm)

Texas has about as much talent on their roster as any college team in the country, so their fall from the nation's top ranked team to an unranked squad is puzzling.  But the plus side for us fans is we get to see them in a tough first round game this way, versus Wake Forest.  Look for a good head-to-head matchup between future NBA forwards in Texas' Damion James and Wake's Al-Farouq Aminu.

Siena vs Purdue (Fri, 2:30pm)

Purdue, my preseason pick to make it to the Final Four, were making me look good most of this season until their best player, Robbie Hummel, blew his knee out.  So, instead of being on the fast track to the Final Four in their native Indiana, Purdue has a first round matchup with perennial giant killer Siena.  Tasty!

Vermont vs Syracuse (Fri, 9:40pm)

Plenty of storylines here, including the fact that Vermont knocked off Syracuse in the first round of the 2005 tourney.  But the one I am most interested in (being a proud Canadian) is the brotherly battle between Montreal brothers Maurice (Vermont) and Kris (Syracuse) Joseph, taking place only an hour away from the Canadian border.