“Selection Sunday”
By George Crocker
Monday, March 17, 2008
Selection Sunday is one of the magical days of the sports year.
Teams across the nation gather to fill in their brackets, finding out just where their run in the tournament will take them.
I was coming home from Charlotte on Sunday and decided to stop for dinner, and to watch the NCAA pairings show on CBS.
I plugged up my Garmin, and it indicated that I had just passed an Applebees about a mile back. I turned around in Lexington, North Carolina to watch the show.
I pulled up and saw a bus with people departing. I thought about leaving, not wanting to battle a crowd. I decided to at least check it out.
The first person I saw was North Carolina Coach Roy Williams. The ACC Tournament champions were also making a stop in Lexington. I shook hands with the coach, and then took a seat about five feet away. ACC Tournament MVP Tyler Hansbrough stood just behind me. Danny Green and Quentin Thomas were right across the bar area. There were very few people in the restaurant, so it was almost like a private party for the Heels, with me as an out of place guest.
The first announcement during the selection show was the tournament’s number one seed, which was North Carolina. The Tar Heel players let out a cheer. They would start the tourney at number one!
Carolina’s destination and first round opponent brought little reaction. Everyone pretty much knew that UNC would play in Raleigh. Under the pod system, many felt that Duke would also play at the RBC Center, but that wasn’t the case, as the Devils head to Washington, DC. North Carolina will play the play-in game winner. That game is Tuesday night, with Coppin State taking on Mt. St. Mary’s.
That winner will be the sacrificial lamb to UNC on Friday night at 7:10 in Raleigh.
By the way, my Final Four includes UNC, UCLA, Texas and Kansas.
Enjoy the games, and check our our bracket challenge and our live NCAA scoreboard at WNCT.com!
BB
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