It is officially Christmas everyone! The greatest two days of the American sports calendar are upon us! There are countless number of NCAA tournament preview articles written in the days leading up to the NCAA tournament (and I read most of them every year), but I have never seen anyone actually create an intrigue ranking of all the games from first to worst similar to what many analysts do during bowl season. Thus, I am hear to fill that void by publishing this list now for the fourth consecutive year. The main factors considered were: the possibility of an upset, likelihood of a close game, and the existence of other story lines that enhance the appeal of a particular game. After these games are completed, I will create a second list and post it on the blog which ranks each of these games after they are played. It is always interesting to compare how the pregame rankings compare to the postgame rankings. I hope you enjoy reading this list, but I hope you enjoy watching the games this weekend even more. Merry Christmas everyone!

1	(7) Kentucky vs. (10) Santa Clara (Fri- 12:15)- CBS (5)
2	(4) Alabama vs. (13) Hofstra (Fri- 3:15)- TruTV (246)
3	(4) Nebraska vs. (13) Troy (Th- 12:40)- TruTV (246)
4	(5) Texas Tech vs. (12) Akron (Fri- 12:40)- Tru TV (246)
5	(6) Tennessee vs. (11) Miami-OH (Fri- 4:25)- TBS (247)
6	(1) Florida vs. (16) Prairie View A & M (Fri- 9:25)- TNT (245)
7	(6) Louisville vs. (11) South Florida (Th- 1:30)- TNT (245)
8	(6) North Carolina vs. (11) VCU (Th- 6:50)- TNT (245)
9	(5) Wisconsin vs. (12) High Point (Th- 1:50)- TBS (247)
10	(8) Georgia vs. (9) Saint Louis (Th- 9:45)- CBS (5)
11	(5) St. John’s vs. (12) Northern Iowa (Fri- 7:10)- CBS (5)
12	(2) Purdue vs. (15) Queens (Fri- 7:35)- TruTV (246)
13	(4) Kansas vs. (13) Cal Baptist (Fri- 9:45)- CBS (5)
14	(5) Vanderbilt vs. (12) McNeese (Th- 3:15)- TruTV (246)
15	(2) UConn vs. (15) Furman (Fri- 10:00)- TBS (247)
16	(4) Arkansas vs. (13) Hawaii (Th- 4:25)- TBS (247)
17	(3) Gonzaga vs. (14) Kennesaw State (Th- 10:00)- TBS (247)
18	(2) Houston vs. (15) Idaho (Th- 10:10)- TruTV (246)
19	(8) Villanova vs. (9) Utah State (Fri- 4:10)- TNT (245)
20	(7) Saint Mary’s vs. (10) Texas A & M (Th- 7:35)- TruTV (246)
21	(8) Ohio State vs. (9) TCU (Th- 12:15)- CBS (5)
22	(3) Illinois vs. (14) Penn (Th- 9:25)- TNT (245)
23	(2) Iowa State vs. (15) Tennessee State (Fri- 2:50)- CBS (5)
24	(3) Michigan State vs. (14) North Dakota State (Th- 4:05)- TNT (245)
25	(6) BYU vs. (11) Texas (Th- 7:25)- TBS (247)
26	(1) Arizona vs. (16) Long Island (Fri- 1:35)- TNT (245)
27	(3) Virginia vs. (14) Wright State (Fri- 1:50)- TBS (247)
28	(1) Duke vs. (16) Siena (Th- 2:50)- CBS (5)
29	(7) Miami-FL vs. (10) Missouri (Fri- 10:10)- TruTV (246)
30	(1) Michigan vs. (16) Howard (Th- 7:10)- CBS (5)
31	(7) UCLA vs. (10) UCF (Fri- 7:25)- TBS (247)
32	(8) Clemson vs. (9) Iowa (Fri- 6:50)- TNT (245)

Photo Courtesy of the Field of 68 Podcast