With March Madness set to start with Tuesday’s First Four in Dayton, Ohio, I talked with Erie BayHawks point guard Tyrone Brazelton about playing in the NCAA Tournament.

As a senior at Western Kentucky, Brazelton dribbled nearly the length of the court to set up Ty Rogers for the game-winning 3-pointer as the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers upset Drake in the first round of the 2008 tournament.

B.J. Jenkins started for Murray State's 2010 NCAA Tournament squad./AP Photo.

B.J. Jenkins didn’t waste any time.

He had his first practice with the Erie BayHawks in a shootaround on Thursday morning after they plucked him from the D-League player pool Wednesday.

After the shootaround, the 6-foot point guard out of Murray State had two separate shooting workouts.

He felt ready to play.

“That’s the plan,” Jenkins said Thursday morning. “I’m going to be dressed and ready. About to go home and study the plays right now. Think I got it for the most part. I’m excited. One minute, 40 minutes, I don’t care. I like to play basketball.”

Later that night, he did play and had six points and four assists in Erie’s 105-87 win against the Maine Red Claws at Tullio Arena. Jenkins was 3-of-4 from the field and only committed one turnover in 13 minutes, 46 seconds of play.

He executed the pick-and-roll, got to the rim for a wide open lay up and knocked down the jumper.

“Coach (Jay Larranaga) told me D (Donald Sloan) had been playing the whole game the past two games,” Jenkins said. “I told myself to be ready if I get a chance. If not, just cheer my teammates on.”

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Erie BayHawks rookie point guard Cedric Jackson left his mark with the Washington Wizards.

In Washington’s final game of the season, Jackson hit the eventual game-winning shot to beat the Indiana Pacers, 98-97, Wednesday night.

Called up by three different NBA teams – Cleveland Cavaliers, San Antonio Spurs and Wizards – Jackson should earn a spot on an NBA roster next season.

While looking for highlights of Wednesday’s game, I came across this video of Jackson doing an interview while with the Wizards about the NCAA Tournament.

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Erie BayHawks rookie Kyle Goldcamp, center, still has a chance to win the team bracket pool, but his coach, John Treloar has the inside track to taking it home. Treloar has Duke and Michigan State making it to the championship game.

John Treloar has the inside track.

Treloar picked Duke and Michigan State to meet in Monday's championship game.

Everyone has an NCAA Tournament bracket pool going. So when the Final Four rolls around, the smoke clears and you begin to see who has the best chance of winning the pool.

The team bracket commissioner – shooting guard Mike Gansey - is still holding out out hope WVU wins it all so he can brag that he was the only one to pick the Mountaineers to take home the national title. Gansey starred for the Mountaineers when they reached the Elite Eight in 2005.

However, he told before Tuesday’s practice Treloar has Duke and Michigan State meeting in the championship game. True to form, Duke will take on WVU in one national semifinal while Michigan State faces Butler in the other.

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Georgetown center Greg Monroe was smiling then when getting called for a charge, but it was a sign of frustration. By game's end, the underdog Ohio Bobcats put the Hoyas in a state of shocking defeat.

RIIIIIIIIP! RIIIIIIIIIIIIP!

That’s the sound of (14) Ohio shredding my NCAA Tournament bracket by blasting (3) Georgetown, 97-83, just minutes ago.

Terrible. Where is my vacuum to clean up this mess?

Now I could save face and say I picked (13) Murray State to beat (4) Vanderbilt, but since I forgot to list it when I blogged my initial predictions, who’s going to believe I actually picked that upset.

Regardless, having your national championship pick go down in the first round is depresing.

Oh wait. Kansas is losing to Lehigh. I’m over the Georgetown pick. Got more March Madness to watch.

Center Greg Monroe will lead Georgetown to championship glory this season.

Just filled out my bracket. It’s so much fun, you just want to enjoy every pick.

As most people who follow my work know, I’m a risk taker on these things. Why do it and play conversative?

Might as well pick some first-round upsets. So here are mine for this year’s NCAA Tournament. (seedings in brackets)

Midwest: (13) San Diego State over (6) Tennessee. Don’t trust the Vols.(10) Georgia Tech over (7) Oklahoma State.

West: (12) UTEP over (5) Butler. Just like UTEP’s style. (10) Florida over (7) BYU.

East: (10) Missouri over (7) Clemson. Definitely don’t trust Clemson. Maybe it’s the orange.

South: None here unless you count (9) Louisville beating (8) California.

My bracket gets even crazier after that, but at the end, these are my Final Four picks.

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Gunter on the block for Erie.

Erie BayHawks reserve power forward Jarvis Gunter seems to always have a smile on his face.

It just was a little bigger Wednesday before practice at LECOM.

The night before, he watched his school, Arkansas-Pine Bluff win its first ever NCAA Tournament game in Tuesday’s play-in game.

 The Golden Lions beat Winthrop, 61-44, in Dayton, Ohio. This was Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s first NCAA Tournament appearance.

“I was very proud of them,” said Gunter, who averaged 6.6 points and 7.7 rebounds his senior season at Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2007-08. He finished his career with 754 points and 674 rebounds. “They went out and played hard. Took care of business. It made me very proud. I played with about five or six of those guys.”

Up next for the Golden Lions? Duke. The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament and the epitome of college basketball.

“If they get keep it close and a couple of guys stay out of foul trouble, anything can happen,” Gunter said.

Gunter is just hoping the game is televised in the Erie area so he can watch it. The game is in Jacksonville, Fla. so the odds aren’t in his favor, but you never know.

Anything can happen in March Madness.

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As a senior at North Carolina, Manuel won a national championship in 2005.

The players and coaches in tonight’s game between the Erie BayHawks and the Austin Toros will follow the NCAA Tournament for more than just the sheer madness of it.

Many of them either played for or coached at schools that are in this year’s field of 65.

Check out how Jackie Manuel, Ivan Harris and  Coach John Treloar of Erie and Marcus Williams, DeMarcus Nelson and Coach Quin Snyder of Austin think their schools will fare.

As a bonus, I also talked to Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Darnell Jackson, who was sent down to play for the BayHawks just for today’s game, about how his Kansas Jayhawks will do in defending the 2008 national title he helped them win.

Erie SF Jackie Manuel
College: North Carolina (2001-05). The Tar Heels (28-4) are a No. 1 seed in the South Regional and will open tournament play Thursday against No. 16-seeded Radford (21-11) in Greensboro, N.C.

How will his Tar Heels do in this year’s tournament? “I think they definitely have a great chance of winning it all. Definitely making it to the Final Four. I definitely think they have a great chance.”

What about junior point guard Ty Lawson’s injury? The Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year missed the ACC Tournament with a toe injury and is questionable for Thursday’s game.

“I think he’ll be alright. With Ty being from D.C., he’s pretty tough. Any injury he’s having or he’s had, I’m pretty sure he’ll suck it up and play. He knows what’s at stake.”

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Pittsburgh. Louisville. North Carolina. Memphis.

That’s President Barack Obama’s Final Four picks for this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Kind of a front runner, huh? Three No. 1 seeds and a No. 2 seed in Memphis, but ESPN is airing an interview today at noon with him discussing his Final Four picks with Andy Katz.

Think Obama is on the money or way off?