Well, every March, many of us at D3hoops.com hit the road (and sometimes the air) to bring you as many games from as many places during the NCAA Tournaments as possible.

Tonight, I am sitting in a hotel on the outskirts of Morgantown, WV, having already traveled a little over three hours from Baltimore. Tomorrow, I will spend another six or so hours on the road as I make my way to Danville, KY and Centre College.

I am truly looking forward to seeing this “pod” of games at Centre. I haven’t seen any of these teams/schools during a basketball season and I will admit I kind of “volunteered” to Pat that I would make the trip (not realizing at the time it would take more than 9 hours to drive).

I am certainly familiar with most of the teams. Ohio Wesleyan was actually a school I was very seriously considering for my collegiate education (along with Wooster and Roanoke; how I got to Goucher is another, very different story). I still remember the passion many students had for the Battling Bishops, and I am sure they will be well represented this weekend. Though, in my preperation for these games, I noticed the Bishops don’t seem to do as well away from the home gym. I will interested to see if they are ready for the game Friday night against Heidelberg.

Heidelberg may have won their first OAC title, this season, but we have been talking about the team for most of the season on Hoopsville. The team has quietly been playing what seems to be very good basketball in the Great Lakes. I am looking forward to seeing if this team is for real!

Franklin ruined Defiance’s hopes of playing post-season basketball with an 11-point come-from-behind victory in the HCAC title game. Outside of that, Franklin hasn’t been a team many have been talking about. Most of the talk in the HCAC has been about Defiance – who ended up stumbling to finish the season losing two or their final three.

And Centre has certainly had the most interesting trip of the season. Losing the opener to Rust (which finding a score for normally is very difficult) and then not losing again until the SCAC title game against Millsaps. Along the way, Centre has struggled to not get down in games and has had to use late runs to win games. Millsaps should know, they had a huge lead earlier this season at Centre, only to see it disappear and lose the game in OT. Then, Millsaps has another huge lead in the SCAC title game, only to see Centre make another late run – luckily for Millsaps, the clock ran out before the lead did!

So… what in the world should I expect? I’m not going to expect anything. I can’t wait to just sit down and see what will probably be three great games of basketball. If you are in Danville this weekend, make sure you say hi! If not, enjoy the broadcasts and the blog!

I’ve been sitting here in a state of semi-consciousness for some time now, trying to decide how I’m supposed to feel about the brackets. Other than generally feeling tired.

Why is it, do we suppose, that the women’s bracket is capable of interspersing a Texas pod with a pod centered on Pennsylvania with a west coast pod and a pod centered on Ohio?

Should I be outraged that the same team is victimized by an incorrect release of the men’s bracket two years in a row? Is it important to note that last year they changed the brackets to keep conference teams from playing each other and this year they changed them to force conference teams to play each other?

Are we sure now that everyone is hosting who is supposed to?

Do we think the NCAA knows what the Thursday men’s first-round games are supposed to be about? Those are supposed to be 8/9 games and 7/10 games leading to No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, remember. I know Clarkson and John Jay do not fit that mold at all and I don’t think Capital and Bethany are seeded that close together.

The good news is that soon we start playing. Two teams will hoist Walnut and Bronze. We’re looking at the most wide-open men’s tournament since 2001, if not earlier.

So let’s have some fun. Eventually. Or we can gripe for a while if you like.