March Madness 2012 Schedule: Early Games Guaranteed to Be Nail Biters

The opening-round games of the NCAA tournament served as the appetizer, but now is when things get intense. Thursday is going to be a day of upsets, star-making performances and bracket-destroying games. 

Since it is almost impossible to watch all the tournament games, unless you have four television sets in the same room, we wanted to tell you what you should be on the lookout for when the games tip off at noon. 

Here are the best of the early Thursday matchups that you have to go out of your way to watch. 

No. 6 Murray State vs. No. 11 Colorado State, 12:15 p.m. ET

What better place to start than the first game of the second round?

Murray State shined all regular season, finishing with the best record in Division I Men's Basketball at 30-1. Nothing that the Racers have done means anything right now. Any talk of their schedule being weak can be justified if they lose to a middle-of-the-road Mountain West team. 

For Colorado State, this is a chance to prove that it belongs in this position. The Rams did not play a great schedule either, though they did get a game at Duke in December. 

It is an intriguing game just to get a better gauge on how good (or bad) Murray State really is. 

No. 4 Louisville vs. No. 13 Davidson, 1:40 p.m. ET

An offensive juggernaut in Davidson taking on a defensive stalwart in Louisville has all the makings of a great dichotomy. 

Davidson scores a lot of points, but is not a great shooting team. The Wildcats finished the season ranked 12th in the country in points per game (78.4). They will need every bit of that when they go up against a tough, physical defense like Louisville. 

The Cardinals, in contrast, want to use their defense to set up what they do on offense. They are not going to come out with all guns blazing. Rick Pitino's squad wears you out defensively, with an in-your-face style that few teams can match. 

As far as talent goes, Louisville should win this game handily. But the Cardinals have had problems scoring this year, which should keep Davidson in it until the end. 

No. 3 Marquette vs. No. 14 BYU, 2:45 p.m. ET

This is going to be the best of the early-afternoon games on Thursday. 

Marquette was a very good regular-season team that fell apart in the Big East tournament because it couldn't stop Louisville from scoring. 

BYU might be the most underrated team in the field and needed the greatest comeback in the history of the NCAA tournament against Iona to make it here, so there are a number of ways that this thing can play out. 

If you are looking for the lowest-seeded team that is going to win a game this tournament, excluding the first round because those feature two teams battling for the same seed, here you go. 

Noah Hartsock is going to emerge as a superstar in this tournament. BYU is for real and ready to shock the world. 

Full Thursday Schedule

Matchup	Location	Scheduled Tip Time (ET)	Network
11 Colorado St. vs. 6 Murray St.	KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Ky.)	12:15 p.m.	CBS
9 Southern Miss vs. 8 Kansas St.	Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh)	12:40 p.m.	truTV
13 Davidson vs. 4 Louisville	Rose Garden (Portland, Ore.)	1:40 p.m.	TBS
13 Montana vs. 4 Wisconsin	The Pit (Albuquerque, N.M.)	2:10 p.m.	TNT
14 BYU vs. 3 Marquette	KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Ky.)	2:45 p.m.	CBS
16 NC Asheville vs. 1 Syracuse	Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh)	3:10 p.m.	truTV
12 Long Beach St. vs. 5 New Mexico	Rose Garden (Portland, Ore.)	4:10 p.m.	TBS
12 Harvard vs. 5 Vanderbilt	The Pit (Albuquerque, N.M.)	4:40 p.m.	TNT
16 Western Kentucky vs. 1 Kentucky	KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, KY)	6:50 p.m.	TBS
12 VCU vs. 5 Wichita St.	Rose Garden (Portland, Ore.)	7:15 p.m.	CBS
10 West Virginia vs. 7 Gonzaga	Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh)	7:20 p.m.	TNT
14 S. Dakota St. vs. 3 Baylor	The Pit (Albuquerque, N.M.)	7:27 p.m.	truTV
9 Connecticut vs. 8 Iowa St.	KFC Yum! Center (Louisville, Ky.)	9:20 p.m.	TBS
13 New Mexico St. vs. 4 Indiana	Rose Garden (Portland, Ore.)	9:45 p.m.	CBS
15 Loyola (Md.) vs. 2 Ohio St.	Consol Energy Center (Pittsburgh)	9:50 p.m.	TNT
11 Colorado vs. 6 UNLV	The Pit (Albuquerque, N.M.)	9:57 p.m.	truTV

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