The 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament technically began tonight with the opening First Four game. To me, however, March Madness really gets started on Thursday. While the First Four games are considered the first round of the NCAA tournament, I still think of them as play-in games. For the sake of convenience, so do the NCAA bracket pools out there, as all of the ones I've seen don't require your predictions to be submitted until before the first game Thursday. That is why I present to you -- a little later than most -- my predictions for the NCAA tournament, beginning with the East Region.
Second Round
No. 1 Ohio State over No. 16 Texas-San Antonio/Alabama State
No. 8 George Mason over No. 9 Villanova
No. 5 West Virginia over No. 12 UAB/Clemson
No. 4 Kentucky over No. 13 Princeton
No. 6 Xavier over No. 11 Marquette
No. 3 Syracuse over No. 14 Indiana State
No. 7 Washington over No. 10 Georgia
No. 2 North Carolina over No. 15 Long Island
Third Round
No. 1 Ohio State over No. 8 George Mason
No. 5 West Virginia over No. 4 Kentucky
No. 3 Syracuse over No. 6 Xavier
No. 2 North Carolina over No. 7 Washington
Sweet 16
No. 1 Ohio State over No. 5 West Virginia
No. 2 North Carolina over No. 3 Syracuse
Elite Eight
No. 1 Ohio State over No. 2 North Carolina
If you need a printable NCAA bracket to fill out for the tournament, download SB Nation's March Madness Bracket.