College Basketball Alert: It's Time To Start Paying Attention

Every year, March Madness sneaks up on us, generally when the Super Bowl has passed and you randomly start hearing ads for vasectomies on the radio.

But suddenly the NCAA regular season is over, and the conference tournaments begin. That's the casual basketball fan's final warning to wake up, March Madness and victory in your $20 office bracket is right around the corner.

The conference finals will give us our automatic bids (Colgate is locked in for the third straight season after winning the Patriot League), and determine entry and seeding for many of the 68 teams that make the big dance. We already have a pretty good idea of who the teams will be, at least the higher 8 seeds in each region:

West

#1 Gonzaga

#2 Wisconsin

#3 Texas Tech

#4 Arkansas

#5 UConn

#6 Alabama

#7 Colorado State

#8 TCU

East

#1 Kansas

#2 Kentucky

#3 Villanova

#4 Illinois

#5 Houston

#6 Ohio State

#7 USC

#8 Seton Hall

South

#1 Baylor

#2 Duke

#3 Tennessee

#4 UCLA

#5 LSU

#6 Iowa

#7 Boise State

#8 Michigan State

Midwest

#1 Arizona

#2 Auburn

#3 Purdue

#4 Providence

#5 Texas

#6 St. Mary's

#7 Marquette

#8 North Carolina

Very early predictions...I like the Baylor Bears this year. So bet on anyone but them.

We will update our sleepers and bracket positions after selection Sunday this weekend.