NCAA Final Four expert picks

	East	West	Southeast	Southwest
Jay Bilas, ESPN	Syracuse	UConn	Kansas	Florida
Hubert Davis, ESPN	Ohio St.	Texas	Kansas	Florida
Pat Forde, ESPN	Ohio St.	Duke	Kansas	Pitt
Andy Katz, ESPN	Ohio St.	SD St.	Kansas	Pitt
Jeff Goodman, FOX	Ohio St.	Texas	Kansas	Pitt
Dan Wetzel, Yahoo!	Ohio St.	UConn	Kansas	Pitt
Seth Davis, CBS/SI	Ohio St.	Duke	Kansas	Florida
Joe Lunardi, ESPN	Ohio St.	Duke	Kansas	Pitt
Digger Phelps, ESPN	Ohio St.	Duke	Kansas	Florida
Mark Schlabach, ESPN	Ohio St.	Texas	Kansas	Florida
Dick Vitale, ESPN	Ohio St.	Duke	Louisville	Pitt
Bob Kravitz, Indy Star	Ohio St.	Texas	Kansas	Kansas St.
Gregg Doyel, CBS	Ohio St.	Temple	Notre Dame	Michigan St.
Gary Parish, CBS	Ohio St.	SD St.	Kansas	Wisconsin

March Madness tip times

From CBSSports.com

Following are the tip times for the FIRST FOUR games, as well as the announce and production team assignments for the second-round games.

Tip times for the third-round games on Saturday will be announced on Thursday after the conclusion of the day’s games. Sunday’s tip times will be released after the conclusion of play on Friday.

Fans will also be able to access the games through NCAA March Madness on Demand. NCAA March Madness on Demand will provide live streaming video of every game of the new 68-team tournament as they are broadcast by CBS Sports and Turner Sports.

FIRST ROUND GAMES

TUESDAY, MARCH 15

6:40, truTV, Dayton -- UNC Asheville vs. UALR (Nantz/Kellogg/Kerr)

9:10, truTV, Dayton -- UAB vs. Clemson (Nantz/Kellogg/Kerr)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16

6:40, truTV, Dayton -- UTSA vs. Alabama St. (Gus Johnson/LenElmore)

9:10, truTV, Dayton -- Southern California vs. VCU(Johnson/Elmore)

SECOND ROUND GAMES

THURSDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 17 (12:00 Noon-5:00 , ET)

12:15, CBS, Tampa -- West Virginia vs. UAB/Clemson (Ian Eagle/Jim Spanarkel)

12:40, truTV, Wash. D.C. -- Butler vs. Old Dominion (Tim Brando/Mike Gminski)

1:40, TBS, Denver--I Louisville vs. Morehead St. (Verne Lundquist/Bill Raftery)

2:10, TNT, Tucson -- Temple vs. Penn St. (Kevin Harlan/Reggie Miller/Dan Bonner)

****

2:45, CBS, Tampa -- Kentucky vs. Princeton (Eagle/Spanarkel)

3:10, truTV, Wash. D.C. -- Pittsburgh vs. Asheville/Ark-LR (Brando/Gminski)

4:10, TBS, Denver -- Vanderbilt vs. Richmond (Lundquist/Raftery)

4:40, TNT, Tucson -- San Diego St. vs. Northern Colorado (Harlan/Miller/Bonner)

THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 17 (6:30 -12:00 AM, ET)

(announce and production teams same as day games)

6:50, TBS, Tampa -- Florida vs. UC Santa Barbara

7:15, CBS, Denver -- BYU vs. Wofford

7:20, TNT, Wash D.C. -- Connecticut vs. Bucknell

7:27, truTV, Tucson -- Wisconsin vs. Belmont

****

9:20, TBS, Tampa -- UCLA vs. Michigan St.

9:45, CBS, Denver -- St. John’s vs. Gonzaga

9:45, TNT, Wash. D.C. -- Cincinnati vs. Missouri

9:57, truTV, Tucson -- Kansas St. vs. Utah St.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, MARCH 18 (12:00 Noon-5:00 , ET)

12:15, CBS, Tulsa -- Texas vs. Oakland (Marv Albert/Steve Kerr)

12:40, truTV, Charlotte -- Michigan vs. Tennessee (Nantz/Kellogg)

1:40, TBS, Chicago -- Notre Dame vs. Akron (Spero Dedes/Bob Wenzel)

2:10, TNT, Cleveland -- George Mason vs. Villanova (Gus Johnson/Len Elmore)

****

2:45, CBS, Tulsa -- Arizona vs. Memphis (Albert/Kerr)

3:10, truTV, Charlotte -- Duke vs. Hampton (Nantz/Kellogg)

4:10, TBS, Chicago -- Texas A&M vs. Florida St. (Dedes/Wenzel)

4:40, TNT, Cleveland -- Ohio St. vs. UTSA/Alabama St. (Johnson/Elmore)

FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 17 (6:30 -12:00 AM, ET)

6:50, TBS, Tulsa -- Kansas vs. Boston U.

7:15, CBS, Charlotte -- North Carolina vs. Long Island

7:20, TNT, Chicago -- Purdue vs. St. Peter’s

7:27, truTV, Cleveland -- Xavier vs. Marquette

****

9:20, TBS, Tulsa -- UNLV vs. Illinois

9:45, CBS, Charlotte -- Washington vs. Georgia

9:50, TNT, Chicago -- Georgetown vs. Southern California/VCU

9:57, truTV, Cleveland -- Syracuse vs. Indiana St.

Bracket tips, strategy and advice to win your office pool

Before we get started, a hat tip to R.J. Bell at Pregame.com for the historical percentages below. (Twitter: @RJinVegas)

Don’t even bother with a No. 16 seed upset, they’ve never won in the Tournament. No. 15 seeds have only won four times, and No. 13 and No. 14 seeds win less than 20 percent of the time.

It’s fun to look like you’re a risk taker, but Thelma in accounting won’t even take those risks.

While we get started, go ahead and advance the No. 1 seeds to the third round. Sure, Kansas lost last year, and Kentucky in 2004 lost in the second round. But the odds are with you to go chalk here.

But pick out a couple No. 12 seeds. They’ve won at least one game in 20 of 22 years. Look at Richmond or Memphis as the best candidates here. Vanderbilt has lost early before, and Memphis turned it on late in the C-USA tournament. Go ahead and push those underdogs through to the second round. The No. 12 and 10 seeds win more than half of the time in the second round.

No. 9 seeds have won 54 percent of their games, so here’s another spot to pick out at least two possibilities.

Only once in 26 years have all 12 top seeds (1-3) made the Sweet 16. Along those lines, a double-digit seed has made 24 of the last 26 Sweet 16s. In this category, I like Missouri’s draw to beat Cincinnati and a UConn team that could have peaked in the Big East tournament. Also check out Utah State. The Aggies have only lost three times, the only team with that few losses outside of the top 10.

Don’t get too cozy with seeds No. 13-16, they win less than one percent of the time in the second round.

In the third round, more No. 1 seeds make the Elite 8 than No. 5 seeds who win period. This is where you get into the No. 10 seeds and better. Twenty four No. 11 seeds or worse have made the Sweet 16, and only one has advanced.

Pick one or two No. 1 seeds to the Final Four, because odds are that no more than two will make it to Houston.

No need to roll the dice after that. Only two of 104 Final Four teams have been seeded worse than No. 8. No team worse than a No. 6 seed has made the championship game in the last 25 years.

Need a tiebreaker in the championship? For 22 straight years, a No. 4 seed or better has cut down the nets.

Enjoy, and if Thelma beats you in the office pool, don’t blame me.

Big Dance Preview: Tidbits and Nuggets For March Madness

Selection Sunday is now behind us, and it’s time to brush up on your bracket tips, figure out when to reserve couch time and find little nuggets to impress your co-workers.

Forget the days when Greg Gumbel and the New York executives bounced you from regional game to national game. This year, all of the Tournament games will be shown as “national” games on CBS, TNT, TBS and TruTV because of a partnership between CBS and Turner. The companies spent $10.8 billion for the rights to broadcast the three-week tournament for 14 years

Big Dance Preview: Tidbits and Nuggets For March Madness

Welcome to March Madness, Gus Johnson-style

There are few games or people that usher in March Madness other than Gus Johnson and a buzzer beater. We were treated to the following this afternoon in the Pac-10 championship between Arizona and Washington. Isaiah Thomas and Gus do the honors. Enjoy.

SEC Spring Football Preview: West Has Plenty of QB Questions

For the second straight year, the SEC West was home to the national champion. And four of the six teams won at least 10 games, not including Mississippi State, which went 9-4.

This spring, every team but LSU is looking at a new quarterback, especially Arkansas and Auburn, who each lost one of the top four quarterbacks in the NFL Draft. There are a lot of areas to address this spring for every team.

SEC Spring Football Preview: West Has Plenty of QB Questions

SEC Spring Football Preview: East Has Work To Do

The SEC East had a season of firsts in 2010, from Florida’s unusual five-loss campaign, to South Carolina’s historic trip to the SEC Championship game.

This spring, the East has two new coaches in Vanderbilt’s James Franklin and Florida’s Will Muschamp. It also sees Georgia’s new strength and conditioning philosophy.

The bottom line is every team in the division had at least five losses last season, and four suffered at least seven losses. So there are a lot of areas to address this spring for every team.

SEC Spring Football Preview: East Has Work To Do

Texas coach gives birth, leads team to state | ajc.com

Texas coach gives birth, leads team to state | ajc.com

If you think you're tough, or busy, try this one on for size.

A Texas high school girls basketball coach coached her team to a win in a regional semifinal, then gave birth, then coached her team to another win.

Amber Branson of Lipan High, a school of 400 students 90 miles west of Dallas, even did it without an epidural. The state tournament game was too important to miss. She went back to the hospital after her team came from 15 points down to win, and later the team took a picture with baby Leslie.

Oregon State DL sets bench press record

Most people aren't terribly excited about the NFL Scouting Combine, unless a favorite college player really shines with a blistering 40 time, or incredible leaping ability.

But when Oregon State defensive lineman Stephen Paea completed his turn at the bench press over the weekend, it was something to look up and notice. Paea did 49 reps of the 225-pound bench, which was four more than the previous record. Here's Paea in action, but notice the men around the bench, and the great line, "We've got a live one."

Spring Training Questions to Prepare For Opening Day

Here are 10 of the main storylines in baseball this season that will dominate the rest of spring training as we inch toward Opening Day.

Spring Training Questions to Prepare For Opening Day

Tax Tips: Credits and Deductions Are Everywhere

As winter gives way to spring, it’s a good time to clean out the house, re-organize closets and shelves, and update your financial records. Tax season forces us to gather W-2s, charity statements and figure how we will lower our taxable income.

We're taking advantage of new energy efficient windows, and have made more than a few trips to a thrift store across the street. What is your family doing in the way of tax credits and deductions?

Tax Tips: Credits and Deductions Are Everywhere

Before Green Bay, Masthay was a Kentucky HS all-star from Murray

Dust off the archives, here's a story I wrote as an intern at the Lexington Herald-Leader way back in 2005. The punter for the Kentucky all-stars that summer was Murray's Tim Masthay. Less than eight years later, after a career at the University of Kentucky, he's in the Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers.

Thursday, June 16, 2005 MASTHAY'S FOOT IS A SIGHT FOR BLUE EYES MURRAY ALL-STAR COULD HELP UK Edition: Final Source: By Keith Farner, Herald-Leader Staff Writer Section: Sports Page: C1

When Tim Masthay steps into Commonwealth Stadium on Sept. 4 he'll be surrounded by eyes.

Yes, speed will be a factor for the freshman punter. Yes, the potential of a blocked punt will increase from high school. But the biggest difference will be the sheer number of people watching him catch, set, and punt the pigskin. At least that's what John Buchanan, the kicking coach this week for the Kentucky football All-Stars told Masthay on Sunday.

"There's just going to be more eyes on you," said Buchanan who has coached at Boyle and Mercer County and at Lafayette. "You've just got to concentrate on the ball and forget all those eyes that will be on you."

But that shouldn't be a problem for Masthay, a Murray High School product who is the odds-on favorite to start at punter for the University of Kentucky this fall.

Masthay grew up playing soccer, basketball, baseball and then football as a junior in high school so eyes in stadiums have been on Masthay since he was 4.

The multi-sport athlete will cut his load from four sports in high school to football and possibly baseball at UK. Masthay, a center fielderand left-handed pitcher, said he has talked with UK baseball coach John Cohen about walking on the team.

Athleticism is what UK football coach Rich Brooks and special teams coach Steve Ortmayer told Masthay they wanted.

And with a 39.4 yards per punt average last season, that's what The Associated Press first-team all-state player delivered.

"I think right now I'm just a solid punter, nothing spectacular," Masthay said yesterday. "What they really wanted was a good athlete and that they could teach me to be a good punter."

The teaching began last summer when Masthay attended a camp that Brooks hosted. That's where Masthay grasped the techniques and fundamentals that are crucial for every punter.

"You have to drop the ball perfectly or it doesn't matter how hard you kick the ball, it's not going to go anywhere," said Masthay who also received an offer from Purdue to start this season on kickoffs.

Masthay will battle walk-on Kris Kessler for a starting role at UK. Masthay said he's not nervous now but if he does in fact start, the butterflies will be fluttering.

"I don't know if it's added pressure," he said, "but I know it's serious business and I've got to get the job done."

Brooks said on national signing day that Masthay, in all probability, will start at punter. The coach also compared him to Josh Bidwell, who played at Oregon under Brooks and now punts for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Football won't be the only transition for Masthay to handle. He'll also have to adjust to classes and living away from Murray. Buchanan said there's no way to figure how freshmen will adjust. But he does know one thing about Masthay.

"He can kick the snot out of the ball," he said.

Football
Kentucky- Tennessee All-Stars
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, Louisville
Tickets: $10 at gate Parking: $5