Selection Monday

Tomorrow evening, beginning at 7 PM on ESPN's Selection Monday show, the NCAA will reveal the names of the 64 teams selected to participate in this year's Big Dance. We'll learn not only which teams will round out the field, which already includes conference tournament winners, but we'll also learn the teams' seedings as well as where, among the 16 locations hosting the 1st and 2nd rounds, each team will be playing next weekend.

This year, there's no suspense about whether the Terps will make the Tournament field . . . they will. And there's even less suspense about where they will start their Tournament run. As Maryland fans know, the Terps are hosting rounds 1 and 2 in College Park, which means they will start play next Sunday, March 20th, at home in Comcast.

The big unknowns right now are where the Terps will be seeded, and which three other teams will be part of the College Park 4-team pod next weekend. Odds are good that the Terps will be seeded either 4th or 5th. If they do drop to a 5 seed, that increases the odds that a team seeded higher than Maryland will also be assigned to play at Comcast. For that team -- and all other higher-seeded teams having to play on the home court of a lower seed -- that's the downside (for them) of the NCAA's not holding the opening rounds on neutral courts. But for the NCAA (and this year, for the Terps), the upside is that there will be fans in the seats . . . including plenty wearing Maryland red.

If you aren't attending the Rebounders selection get-together with the team tomorrow evening, be sure you don't miss watching at home on ESPN at 7 PM. And, if you can't watch live, remember, you can follow the selections on ESPN.com.