NCAA Tournament's Eve

As if Bostonist needed anymore of a reason to park our asses at a bar to drink, not only is tomorrow St. Patricks Day, but it is also the first day of the annual rite of insanity, the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament - or the more common named "March Madness". They're not kidding either. Every year the promise of spring, that faint sign that yes, winter is over, is buoyed by the weeks of hardcore college basketball, beer, pizza, and buffalo wings ... oh, and yelling and screaming at the TV. That's where the madness comes in.

In less than 24 hours the first group of winners and, sadly, losers begin their trip hoping that it ends in St. Louis cutting down a net and hoisting a trophy. The ACC, a perrenial super-conference, is expected to have a pretty impressive showing. Analysts and prognosticators across the USA are feeling that the North Carolina Tarheels will be putting the most formidable team out there. Wake Forest and Duke round out the cream of the ACC crop expected to be in St. Louis, with Illinois rounding out the quartet that most think will be playing for the championship.

Bostonist would be remiss if it wasn't pointed out that the last two tournaments were won by Big East teams, Syracuse and UConn. Why not root for a conference three-peat? Of course there is a large contingency of Boston College fans hoping their Eagles bring their "A" game, but along with BC in representing the Big East are Syracuse, UConn, Villanova, Pitt, and West Virginia. Root for your team, and no matter who wins, enjoy your green beer and the "Madness".

One last note: if you're a last-minute type of person, like Bostonist is, you might not have filled out your bracket yet. For printable PDF or GIF versions of the brackets, or further tournament information, check out the coverage at ESPN.com, CBS Sportsline, or Boston.com.