It’s that time of year again. While basketball season rages on and baseball is just around the corner, sports fans are treated to a special event: the NCAA March Madness Tournament. This year, the one-seeds are as weak as they’ve been in years and the championship isn’t out of the question for any of the schools in the tournament. Each region has its own unique difficulties and intriguing match-ups.

    South Region

    The South features the overall number-one seeded University of Florida. This region can bring up some interesting matchups, like possible Sweet 16 meetings between #1 Florida and #4 UCLA or #3 Syracuse and #2 Kansas. Florida is definitely the favorite in this region, but #10 Stanford or #11 Dayton could very well bust some brackets. I have Florida coming out of this region and earning their first Final Four appearance since 2007, when they won the tournament.

    East Region

    The East showcases the University of Virginia as its top seed, but, being the weakest of the four #1’s, it has a poor chance to advance from the region. There could also be some first-round upsets in the #12 Harvard-#5 Cincinnati or #10 Saint Joseph’s-#7 Connecticut games. The favorite in this region, and the trending championship pick, is Michigan St. University. They’re the second-most picked to win the championship behind Florida. I went with the favorite based on their overwhelming size and speed and the relative easiness of their region.

    West Region

    The West is the region that is on the highest upset alert. With solid teams at each seed, each one is in the mix to advance to the Final Four. A popular upset pick is #12 North Dakota St. over #5 Oklahoma, while another could easily happen in the #10 BYU-#7 Oregon game, or even #11 Nebraska over #6 Baylor. The University of Arizona takes the number one spot, but that doesn’t mean much in a division like this. I picked #3 Creighton to shoot their way through the West to make their first Final Four appearance in school history.

    Midwest Region

    The Midwest is the most wide-open region. There will not be as many upsets as the West, but that is because all of the teams are on the same level. All the way from #1 Wichita St. to #11 Tennessee, the field is filled with talent. If you’re looking for upsets, you could pick #12 North Carolina St. over #5 Saint Louis, #11 Tennessee over #6 Massachusetts, or #10 Arizona St. over #7 Texas. My pick to leave the Midwest is the undefeated Wichita St. They’ve simply been too good in every phase of the game to be stopped.