Excitement building for Selection Sunday

I find it hard to control my excitement. Selection Sunday is coming. It rings like a bell ushering in one of the most exciting times of the year, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and like one of Pavlov's dogs, I am drooling in response. Before the first round pairings are drawn up, a number of experts try to put their fingers on which teams will handed No. 1 and 2 seeds. But, as Sherlock Holmes might say, that is elementary. I find much more fun in trying to find out who will be granted the cyanide capsule known as the No. 16 seed.\nThis year there will be five No. 16 seeds. Anyone like me, whose math knowledge was almost entirely learned from the Count on Sesame Street, can figure out that you cannot fit five No. 16 seeds into four regions. Thus the NCAA has instituted the "play-in" game. Two No. 16 seeds will meet each other the Tuesday before the tournament starts for the right to match the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region in the first round. The question I asked when I saw that the "play-in" game was instituted was the same I asked when I saw the preview for the movie "See Spot Run" -- why?\nAccording to the NCAA, the extra spot was created when the Mountain West Conference was granted an automatic bid for its winner this year, bringing the number of automatic bids up to 31. Rather than taking away one of the 34 at-large bids, they decided to please everybody by simply adding the play-in game. But I have a better suggestion as to why this maneuver was pulled off, and it is -- gasp -- money. \nThe vast majority of teams who garner at-large bids are major schools that can pool gargantuan alumni and monetary support for tournament games. Obviously, taking out a school like Texas in favor of one like Long Beach State will not make financial gains for the NCAA.\nSo who are the front-runners for this year's No. 16 seeds? They are all small schools coming from small conferences that the vast majority of Americans have never actually heard of. These conferences include the Big South, Colonial, MEAC, NEC, Southern, Southland and SWAC.\nBig South: Winthrop has already clinched a spot in the 'Big Dance' by winning the Big South tournament. The Eagles were ranked No. 2 in the conference, and clinched their spot in an overtime win over Radford. This is their third straight appearance in the NCAAs. Winthrop's only game against a top-25 opponent this year was a 66-61 loss to North Carolina, indicating that the Eagles are no pushover.\nColonial: George Mason clinched its tournament spot by beating UNC-Wilmington in a 35-33 shootout that brought back vivid memories of the classic eighth grade games of my past. The Patriots, who are led on the floor by 30-year-old forward George Evans, finished 18-11 on the season and will likely participate in the play-in game.\nMEAC: Hampton enters the MEAC conference tournament with a 21-6 record and the top seed in the conference tournament. None of the Pirates' victories have come against a team in the top 150 in the RPI rankings, and their last regular season game was a 94-82 loss to Norfolk State. South Carolina State is the conference's second seed, and could very well represent the MEAC depending on the tournament results.\nNEC: Monmouth beat St. Francis 67-64 to earn its first trip to the NCAA since 1996. The Hawks best opponent this season was Gonzaga, who beat them 95-69.\nSouthern: UNC-Greensboro won against Chattanooga 67-66 in its conference to punch their ticket to the 'Big Dance.' Although they finished 19-11 on the season, the Spartans were only 10-6 in conference play. But they did beat an NCAA tournament team this year -- Winthrop.\nSouthland: McNeese State enters the Southland Conference as the top seed with a 20-7 record, including 17-3 in conference play. The Cowboys strongest opponent was Mississippi State (16-11), who beat them by nine. Only three other teams in the Southland Conference have winning records.\nSWAC: Alabama State enters the SWAC tournament as the regular-season champ. But its spot in the NCAA is no guarantee, as Mississippi Valley State and Alabama A&M -- who finished right behind the Hornets in the regular season standings -- promise to give them a fight for the right to be called "SWAC Daddies."\nWith all of this fighting for the last positions in the NCAA tournament comes the inevitable question: "Will any No. 16 seed be able to pull off a first-round upset?" This might seem as silly as asking me, "Do you have a supermodel girlfriend?" I can guarantee no team that has to win the play-in game will ever pull off the ultimate upset, because they will be already drained from playing a team at their level. But someday, somewhere and somehow, a No. 16 seed will likely pull off the victory that will make them kings for a day.