O.J. vs. Beasley…

The NCAA Tournament Selection Show just wrapped up. We’re gonna have a ton of content on DimeMag.com over the next few days leading up to the tourney, as well as wall-to-wall coverage on Thursday and Friday when all the games get going.

Just on first glance, though, these are the first-round matchups we’re most looking forward to, one must-see game per region:

EAST
(8) Indiana vs. (9) Arkansas
Both teams are coming off heart-breaking, inexplicable losses in their respective conference tournaments — the Hoosiers were upset by Minnesota that crazy, Christian Laettner-ish shot by Blake Hoffarber in the Big Ten bracket, while the Razorbacks somehow lost to an exhausted Georgia team that they should have run out of the building in the SEC tourney. Great backcourt matchup here, with IU boasting guaranteed Top-10 draft pick Eric Gordon (21.3 ppg) and Arkansas featuring sophomore Patrick Beverly (12.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg). But the difference will be inside with Indiana’s D.J. White, the Big Ten Player of the Year who’s become a double-double machine.

MIDWEST
(6) USC vs. (11) Kansas State
Speaking of obscenely-talented freshmen, this one is gonna be crazy. Michael Beasley (26.5 ppg, 12.4 rpg) has been destroying everything in his path all year long, while O.J. Mayo (20.8 ppg) didn’t start off so hot but has finished the season real strong. Can you imagine the hype this game would have received back in November, when there was a bit more mystery behind each guy? It’s still well worth watching now, though.

SOUTH
(5) Michigan State vs. (12) Temple
The final count for this one could look more like a football score, but we totally don’t mind a physical knock-down, drag-out brawl between teams led by some of the smartest coaches in the business: Tom Izzo and Fran Dunphy/b>. As far as on the court, the Spartans have more overall talent with Drew Neitzel (14.2 ppg, 4 apg), Raymar Morgan (14.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and some productive freshmen. But Temple has some guys who can drop buckets, namely Dionte Christmas (20.2 ppg, 6 rpg) and Mark Tyndale (15.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg).

WEST
(3) Xavier vs. (14) Georgia
That’s just wrong that the selection committee made Georgia play on Thursday. It wouldn’t have killed them to give the Dawgs a little break and a Friday tip-off? And UGA coach Dennis Felton did not look happy about it when he saw the draw — either that or he didn’t like that the SEC champions are rocking a 14-seed. Meanwhile, Xavier was upset in their conference tournament and still got a pretty high seed. Pint-sized (5-foot-7) floor general Drew Lavender (10.7 ppg, 4.3 apg) distributes the rock amongst a group of six Musketeers averaging between 10 and 11 points per game. His counterpart, UGA’s Sundiata Gaines (14.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 4.1 apg) is a tough NYC guard who has led the team’s Cinderella run.

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