NCAA Bracket 2012: Midwest Region Coverage And Previews

“If I had to guess -- and this is merely a guess -- if the game were today he probably still would not play today,” Williams said. “But we’re being hopeful that he will be Friday.”

Henson sprained his left wrist after falling awkwardly during North Carolina’s ACC quarterfinal against Maryland. He was unable to play in the rest of the ACC tournament, missing UNC’s win in the semifinals over North Carolina State and loss in the championship game against Florida State.

March Madness is officially upon us as the 2012 NCAA Tournament gets under way starting Tuesday with the First Four games, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to keep studying for the bracket pools everyone seems to be in around this time of year.

Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

The Titans’ season didn’t start out well at all, but they rallied late to build momentum toward the postseason. They started 7-10, losing to some low-quality teams like Youngstown State, Illinois-Chicago (which went 8-22) and Bowling Green. After their two-point loss to Valpo Jan. 6, they won 15 of their next 18 games to charge to the Big Dance.

Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

For more on the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket, stay with SB Nation’s Selection Sunday StoryStream, and stick around SB Nation’s NCAA Tournament hub for a complete printable NCAA Tournament bracket and tons of analysis on who was snubbed, who got the best bracket, and who will make it all the way to New Orleans and the Final Four.

The Boilermakers got hot early, winning 12 of their first 15 regular season games. They faltered a bit in January and February, suffering losses to Michigan State, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio State -- all ranked in the top 25 -- in a stretch of five games. They dropped a second game to Indiana in their regular season finale. In spite of all of this, they finished 21-11 overall, going 10-8 in the Big Ten.

For more on the Boilermakers, check out Purdue blog Hammer And Rails. Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

Their only two non-conference losses were against other NCAA tournament teams, Baylor and Creighton. They hold solid non-conference wins over Arizona, California and Long Beach State. In conference, they split their games against UNLV, New Mexico and Colorado State, the other teams who finished above .500 in the Mountain West.

In the Mountain West Tournament, the Aztecs beat Boise State and Colorado State, but lost to New Mexico in the final. They are a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament and will face N.C. State in the second round.

Many people’s defining memory of Vermont basketball was the Catamount’s win as a 13-seed over fourth-seeded Syracuse in the 2005 tournament in longtime head coach Tom Brennan’s final year. This year, they’re likely to earn a similar seed and will have a chance to earn the school’s second-ever victory in the Big Dance.

The Catamounts went 23-11 despite a nightmarish losing streak early in the year. They lost consecutive games to Harvard, Yale, Saint Louis, Quinnipiac and Iona in a two-week stretch. Granted, with the exception of Yale, those are all good teams, but to lose that many in a row and then win 14 of their last 15 games shows an impressive resilience that those looking to pick an upset will have to love.

In the end, the Bulls put together a solid season and finished sixth in a very stacked and competitive conference. They headed to the Big East Tournament with a 20-13 overall record, 12-6 in conference play.

Nevertheless, they still made the NCAA Tournament, facing Cal in the First Four for the right to face No. 5 Temple in the second round of the Midwest region.

North Carolina State remains no better than the third-best college basketball team in the state of North Carolina. But the Wolfpack is dancing, getting to the 2012 NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection. As the No. 11 seed in the Midwest, they’ll face No. 6 San Diego State in the second round.

N.C. State didn’t distinguish itself in either its non-conference schedule or ACC play. The Wolfpack went 11-4 before ACC play, and 9-7 in conference before scoring a couple of wins in the ACC Tournament, then being bounced by North Carolina in the semifinal.

UNC enters the big dance on a bit of a sour note after falling to Florida State in the ACC championship game, but they were still rewarded with a No. 1 seed. They’ll face the winner of the First Four matchup between Lamar and Vermont.

For more on the Tar Heels, check out Carolina Match. Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

Before Pat Knight, the former head coach at Texas Tech and the son of Bobby Knight, came to Lamar, the school hadn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2000.

However, Knight put the school on the map a few weeks ago when he delivered an epic tirade after the Cardinals’ loss to Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 22:

But regular-season crown or not, Michigan made it into the NCAA Tournament by virtue of a solid resume built throughout the schedule. As the No. 4 seed in the Midwest, they’ll face No. 13 Ohio in the second round.

Michigan made it through the non-conference schedule relatively unscathed, with a seven-point loss to Duke, and somewhat surprising losses to Virginia and Arkansas, the latter of which occurred during an out-of-conference game in the middle of the conference slate. In Big Ten play, the Wolverines lost five times, falling to Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State and Purdue. Only one of those losses -- to the Boilermakers -- came at home, however.

As the No. 5 seed in the Big East Tournament, the Hoyas earned a first-round bye before beating Pittsburgh 64-52 in the second round. Georgetown fell in the quarterfinals, though, losing 72-70 after two overtimes to fourth-seeded Cincinnati. The Hoyas enter the NCAA Tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Midwest and will face No. 14 Belmont.

For more on the Hoyas, head over to Georgetown blog Casual Hoya. Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

Losing the bulk of its scoring from last year’s team that entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed, most expected this to be the year for Kansas to be ripe for the picking in the Big 12. That wasn’t the case as the Jayhawks rolled to a 26-5 record and their eighth straight regular season conference title.

Much of the reason for that is the emergence of big man Thomas Robinson, who could be named national Player of the Year next week. Robinson has been dominant in his junior season, averaging a team-best 17.9 points and 11.8 rebounds. He’s been helped by senior guard Tyshawn Taylor, who has stepped up to average a career-high 17.3 ppg after averaging single figures for the first three years of his college career.

The TV times and announcer lists for the first round of games in the NCAA Tournament have been announced. The broadcast coverage will be split between TNT, TBS, truTV (look it up) and CBS, with all games airing on television. It all gets underway on Tuesday with the First Four.

Here’s the schedule, TV coverage and announcers for the Midwest Region.

After a ruinous tournament, the Pac-12 looked like no more than a one-bid league. California joining Colorado in the 2012 NCAA Tournament field was both a bit of a surprise and a welcome relief for the conference. They face South Florida in the First Four for the right to face No. 5 Temple.

The Bears were the second-best team in the Pac-12 in the regular season, rolling up a gaudy 23-8 record despite losses in their final two regular season contests and going 13-5 in Pac-12 play. They lost to eventual Pac-12 Tournament champion Colorado in the semifinals of the tournament, leaving them looking very vulnerable on the bubble.

The Jays’ only questionable loss is a home defeat to Missouri State. Otherwise, their resume is excellent. They split with the Wichita State Shockers -- the team that won the MVC regular season title -- with both teams surprisingly losing at home. Creighton’s other losses were on the road at Northern Iowa and Evansville. They hold quality wins over Iowa, Northwestern and San Diego State in addition to their win over WSU.

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The Bruins enter March Madness on a phenomenal hot streak, winning their last 14 games and, in the process, capturing the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championships. They finished the season 27-7 and beat East Tennessee State and Florida Gulf Coast in the tournament to cap off their objectively terrific season. As the No. 14 seed in the Midwest, they’ll face No. 3 Georgetown in the second round.

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Alabama opened the season with seven straight wins and were 13-3 midway through the season before dropping four straight games in mid-to-late January, a losing streak that began with a 56-52 loss at the 20th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, their only game against a Top 25 opponent this season. The Crimson Tide won four of five to finish out the regular season. They fell to Florida in the SEC tournament quarterfinal, 66-63. As the No. 9 seed in the Midwest region, they’ll face No. 8 Creighton in their first game of the NCAA Tournament.

Join our 2012 NCAA Bracket pool to compete against the best and brightest from around the network.

Here’s the full Midwest Region bracket for the 2012 NCAA Tournament:

No. 1 North Carolina

No. 16 Lamar / Vermont (First Four)