The bracket is out. The 68-team field is set. But before the first game of the NCAA tournament tips off Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, college basketball writer SCOTT RICHEY highlights four items that stand out before March Madness consumes sports' fans for the next three weeks:
THE BEST, BUT ONLY SORT OF
The Big Ten was, for nearly the entire season, considered the best conference in the country. Landing the most teams of any conference (eight) in the tournament field is testament to its depth, but it turns out Sunday's Big Ten tournament championship game might not actually matter.