It all starts tonight at UD Arena.

Leading off

When there was one play-in game, I never included it as part of my annual predict the bracket column, which will run on Thursday.

But now with four play-in games (I know they're officially "first round games," but lets face it, they're play-in games) this is part one of the play-in blog prediction. Winners make the column.

Ashville vs. Little Rock - Take the Bulldogs.

Clemson vs. UAB -  Pressure game for the Blazers, who are trying to prove they belong in the field at all. I'm taking Clemson.

Fearless prediction:

See above

What to look forward to today:

I'm curious to see how the broadcast looks on TruTV.

Question I don't know the answer to:

Will the potential excitement of the NCAA Tournament get people to turn on TruTV at 9 p.m. tonight. Or are these play-in games just appetizers before people really tune in on Thursday. Essentially will people watch games that aren't part of their bracket pools.

Recommended reading:

The New York Times has a Gus Johnson profile. -http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/sports/ncaabasketball/15gus.html?ref=sports

Among my favorite traditions of this time of year is Dan Wetzel's pretournament column.

Buzzer beaters:

After tomorrow Dayton will have hosted more NCAA Tournament games than any other arena in America.

...two days til incessant commercials for "The Masters, a tradition unlike any other...