Good Morning Selection Sunday

As the sun rises in the east of the U.S. in the middle of March, every waking soul knows the importance of today's date. Today is Selection Sunday.

Practically a holiday in the world of sports, selection Sunday has become a day of reckoning for most around the country. Many questions are usually still to be answered.

Who will be the one seeds? Who will sneak in the field of 65, and who will be left out? What region will we be playing in? Are we playing Thursday or Friday?

For the majority of teams today is a day of relaxation. Most teams fates are already determined. Those teams just want to know when they play next. But for a handful of teams the waining moments leading up to the unveiling of the brackets can be the most nervous moments.

Yes, the proverbial bubble as most people call it, is once again the talk of the tourney as most people wait for the brackets to be released.

Some will be left complaining about teams that were left out that should be in, and others complaining about teams that got in that shouldn't be.

Over the past week, many teams have waved bye-bye to the tourney courtesy to the teams that win their conference tournament that weren't supposed to.

So now teams like Penn State, Minnesota, South Carolina, Auburn, Arizona, San Diego State, Maryland, Creighton, and St. Mary's, must wait out the closing moments before they realize if they're going dancing, or if they're NIT bound.

Teams will whine like they always do, but the fact of the matter is all teams who get left out always had a chance to play their way in but fail to do so. So all bubble teams can only blame themselves.

The second most-talked about topic on selection Sunday is the No. 1 seeds. This tournament may be the most interesting however. For several weeks toward the end of the season, four teams were stabilized at the top of the rankings: North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Oklahoma.

But then Oklahoma started struggling. OU, Pittsburgh, and UConn all failed to even make it to the semifinals in their respective conference tourneys. North Carolina failed to make it to the finals.

Now Louisville, who surprisingly beat out Pitt and UConn for the regular season Big East Title, appears it will now receive a one seed after winning their first ever Big East Conference Championship.

Memphis is also now pushing for a top seed as they again whipped on Conference USA for yet another season. The Tigers haven't lost a game in conference since Mar. 2, 2006.

The remaining two seeds are still up in the air. They will likely go to North Carolina and one of the top Big East teams. Duke would like a say in the top seeds though as they play for the ACC Championship Sunday afternoon.

Four automatic bids are still to be given out today.

Duke faces off against Florida State in the ACC Championship, as the Seminoles look to upset Duke for their first ACC Title.

Stephen F. Austin looks to claim the Southland Title over Texas-San Antonio.

Mississippi State takes on Tennessee in Tampa for the SEC Championship. Mississippi State hopes to be spoiler as they try and win an automatic bid to the dance and burst another team's bubble.

The last game of the day just before the brackets are released includes Ohio State, who played their way off the bubble and into the tournament by reaching the Big Ten Championship, where they will face Purdue for the Title.

By the time the sun sets in the East, everyone should know the full bracket. Office pools will begin to open, and the amount of brackets filled out will start to climb. Talk of this year's Cinderella team will start to fill the air, just as people declare who their final four is.

It's a great day in sports. Yes, ladies and gentleman, it's Selection Sunday.