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"While the formula for a fun March Madness tournament remains the same every year, the ingredients change\u2014here's a primer on the who and what worth paying attention to. \n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n Doug McDermott\n\n Creighton's Doug McDermott is this year's White Guy Most Likely To Be Compared To Larry Bird, and with good reason: He became the eighth player in Division I history to score 3,000 points in a season, set the Big East tournament record for most points scored in the first half, and played every game wearing sleeves. (You know white people and their sleeves.) You'll want to catch every Creighton game in the hopes that he goes off for a billion.\n\n Wichita State\n\n Wichita State enters the tournament as a perfect 34-0, but they still can't get no respect because they racked up all those wins playing in the nonthreatening Missouri Valley Conference. (And because their mascot looks like a Lynchian fever dream.) Most brackets will pick them as the first #1 seed to go down, which means they'll take every court on a stomachful of spite. Keep an eye on their potential Round 2 game against Kentucky.\n\n Marcus Smart\n\n The well-worn narrative is that Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart cost himself a bunch of money by returning to school after his freshman year while his numbers failed to take a huge leap forward. This is likely his last hurrah, so he'll be playing with extra verve to make up for dropped draft spots.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n Beat Duke!\n\n Two years ago, Duke went down in the first round to the unheralded Lehigh Mountain Hawks; this year, they're pitted against the Mercer Bears, who are appearing in their first NCAA tournament since 1985. It'll never get better than rooting for a low seed to knock off those preppy, blue-blooded Blue Devils, so pull out any orange clothing you can wear in solidarity.\n\n The race for the #1 draft pick\n\n With the 2014 NBA draft class set to be supremely loaded, pro ball partisans will look to see how the likely lottery picks battle it out to be taken first. The conventional wisdom has either Kansas' Joel Embiid or Andrew Wiggins going #1, but Duke's Jabari Parker could jam his way to the top spot if the Blue Devils make a deep run.\n\n Aaron Craft\n\n How we'll miss booing Aaron Craft. The Buckeyes frittered away their Big Ten tournament semifinal against Michigan largely after Craft was reinserted in the game's final minutes, and Twitter was euphoric. Craft is indeed descended from the mold of gritty white irritants of old\u2014think Bobby Hurley, or Greg Paulus\u2014and he'll be playing in his last ever NCAA tournament, which means the jeers should flow freely for a player people love to hate.\n\nFacebookPinterest\n\n The Steve Alford Revenge Game?\n\n Former Indiana sweet shooter Steve Alford never made many waves as the coach of the New Mexico Lobos\u2014his best result in six years was the third round of the tournament\u2014but that didn't stop him from upgrading to the UCLA coaching job, where he guided the Bruins to their first Pac-12 title since 2008. It's hard to see UCLA and New Mexico both surviving to the Elite 8 to play each other, but if they did, the blood would boil hotter than it ever has over a guy named Steve.\n\n Ernie Johnson \n\n Ernie Johnson is beloved by basketball fans for the way he manages to keep a studio show featuring Charles Barkley AND Shaquille O'Neal mostly on the rails; this year, he'll be hosting the Final Four and National Championship coverage for the first time, which means things should stay on the straight and narrow. (It'll be easier than convincing Shaq to stop delivering commentary via rap verse, I think.)\n\n Could Louisville repeat?\n\n Who cares if they're seeded an ignoble fourth? The story writes itself: For the third year in a row, Rick Pitino's Cardinals are peaking at the exact right moment after winning their third straight league title, which means they could become the first team since the 2007 Florida Gators to repeat as tournament champions. Who cares if the American Athletic Conference sounds like a support group for aging drill sergeants?\n\n \"One Shining Moment\"\n\n It's still real to us, dammit. If you don't get chills when the song plays at tournament's end, why even watch?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.gq.com/story/10-reasons-to-get-excited-about-march-madness>