March Madness 2012 Picks: NC State and More Cinderellas Ready to Dance

I will eventually crack open a beer to NC State's inevitable triumph in the NCAA Tournament. It's March, ladies and gentleman, so let's get a little crazy. 

The final field is nearly set giving us the greatest half-week in sports for fans, and that is the moment that we take vital minutes away from work to fill out a bracket. 

The filling of the brackets is a fine art that can be accomplished with the finesse of science and metrics, or the plodding of throwing a dart against a bracket pinned to the wall. 

Save your darts and for goodness sake don't mark up a perfectly good wall. 

Here are the upsets that will take the first week of Mach Madness from great to amazing. 

No. 11 NC State

The Wolfpack is the scariest team in the field when you consider their win against Virginia and near defeat of seemingly untouchable North Carolina. 

NC State can flat out play and will soon destroy thousands of brackets with their stifling play. First up is No. 6 San Diego State that will be dispatched rather quickly by this No. 11 stunner. 

The Aztecs looked awful in their loss to New Mexico in the Mountain West Finals, missing layups and clanking pretty much anything that would have spurred on a come from behind victory. 

The Aztecs are running cold, and that has this game as the easiest upset to call in the first couple days of play. 

No. 6 Cincinnati

The Bearcats are my dark horse to ride all the way into the Sweet 16. The toughest hurdle for them will be Florida State, but that will only serve to illustrate how deadly this team can be. 

Cincy was on a nice little four-game winning streak that included defeats of Marquette, Georgetown and Syracuse. 

They then ran headlong into a suffocating Louisville team that derailed a hot hand. I have every confidence that another string of remarkable victories is just around the corner. 

No. 13 Ohio 

The Bobcats return to play bracket spoiler once again. In 2010, the No. 14 seeded Bobcats defeated the No. 3 Hoyas and featured D.J. Cooper—now back with a great deal more experience under his belt. 

Ohio is riding a wave of consistency winning eight of the last 10, while Michigan has faltered to OSU and Purdue in the past couple weeks. 

The Bobcats defense can be frustrating and will get the Wolverines off their game early. 

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