March Madness fast approaching

This is the time of year guys like me start getting in a better mood. We start to shake off that January negativity and begin to look more optimistically to the future.\nI realize there is no NFL for seven months, and I know that groundhog in Pennsylvania saw his shadow again, but those things are of little importance. It is the anticipation of better days ahead that lift my spirits -- the end of this long, bitter time of the year we call winter is actually in sight.\nBut the best part about the winding down of winter is not the warmer temperatures -- that is an added bonus -- but rather the arrival of the month of March.\nMarch brings with it a heavy dosage of quality college basketball in the NCAA men's basketball tournament. March Madness. Whatever you call it, it is the best post-season in all of sports.\nIn the next six weeks, players, coaches and fans around the country will find themselves daydreaming about 64-team brackets and last-second buzzer-beaters. Much of the collegiate sports world will be consumed with this six-round, single-elimination affair (to the chagrin of IU President Myles Brand). Fans will be entering tournament pools, making predictions and staying home from class to watch the day-long festivities of the first and second rounds.\nAnd as if the sheer excitement and competition of the tournament is not enough to get us excited, we are now faced with constant reminders that the "madness" is fast approaching. The sports media that seems increasingly infatuated with polls, polls and more polls now supplies basketball junkies like myself with tournament seeding projections early in the season. When ESPN receives hundreds of fans' e-mails complaining about their favorite team not being included in the latest "bracketology" projections, you know this thing is big. \nWith most conference schedules halfway completed, a hazy post-season configuration is beginning to emerge, but nothing is set in stone.\nHere is an early glimpse of where this is headed.\nBig Ten\nThe Big Ten will probably send six teams to the tournament.\nDefending NCAA champion Michigan State and Illinois are ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and are tied for the conference lead at 7-2. They clash tonight in Champaign, with the eventual winner gaining the inside track to the regular season conference crown and a potential No. 1 in the NCAA tournament.\nIowa - even without the services of the injured Luke Recker for six weeks - and Wisconsin should be locks for at-large bids. \nBelow them, it gets interesting.\nOf IU, Purdue, Ohio State and Minnesota, probably only two teams will hear their names called during the selection show. All four have solid RPI ratings, an important factor in the selection committee's decisions. IU has the highest rating (24th), thanks in large part to the fifth-toughest schedule in the country. And with five of their last seven games to be played at Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers look to have the best shot of these four.\nOhio State should be the last Big Ten team to be selected. Purdue has a difficult remaining schedule, and Minnesota appears to be running out of steam after four consecutive setbacks. But as evidenced by 11th-seeded Illinois' run last year, any team can get hot in the Big Ten tournament and challenge for the automatic bid that goes to the winner.\nOther conferences\nThe Atlantic Coast Conference has regained the unofficial position of toughest conference in the country this year. With five teams ranked in the top 25, including three in the top 10, the ACC should have six representatives in the tournament. Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Wake Forest are definitely in, and Georgia Tech should be able to qualify. \nThe Southeastern Conference is a little down this year, but look for it to send six teams, with Tennessee and Florida as the highest seeds. Kentucky has turned its season around and will make it in as well.\nThe Big East is complicated and could send five to seven schools. Look for Notre Dame's first tourney appearance since 1989-90. \nThe Big 12, led by Kansas, should have six teams in the tournament, and the Pac-10, led by heavyweights Stanford and Arizona, look to have five.\nSeeding\nThe number one seeds in the tournament: Stanford, Kansas, Michigan State and Duke.\nThe number two seeds: North Carolina, Illinois, Syracuse and Florida.