Today it all begins.

It’s like Christmas time to a sports fan. 

The NCAA tournament, also known as March Madness, is just hours away from tipoff and I am waiting with my bracket filled out right next to me. 

At the risk of coming off as a cocky know-it-all, I have built up a reputation with my friends as someone who has a knack for picking winners in the tournament. 

It started back in 2003 when I picked both Syracuse and Kansas to play in the championship game, although I incorrectly picked Kansas to win. 

Every year after that I have correctly picked at least one of the two teams playing in the finals. 

So at the risk of ending my reputability in this column before it begins, I’m going to breakdown who I picked to win the tournament and the reasons for it. 

So without further ado, let’s get to it. (Click here to check out my bracket.)

Ok, first I have to go over some of my upset picks, for those of you who don’t know, an upset is when the higher seeded team is knocked out of the tournament by a lower seed. 

Notable upsets in my bracket include:

Arizona (No. 12) over Utah (No. 5) in the first round. 
I think Arizona will finally play up to its full potential after underachieving all year.  Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill have too much athleticism for this underwhelming Utah team. 

I don’t think this is a close game.     

Mississippi State (No. 13) over Washington (No. 4) in the first round. 
Mississippi State got hot at the right moment, beating tournament teams Louisiana State and Tennessee en route to winning the SEC tournament. 

Washington however, bowed out early in the Pacific-10 conference losing to Arizona State by 10 in the second round of the conference tournament. 

Mississippi State will ride their momentum into the tournament beating this overrated Washington team by keeping the score of the game down into the low 60’s.

Southern California (No. 10) over Boston College (No. 7) in first round and over Michigan State (No. 2) in the second round. 
Another team that is riding a hot streak, USC came from out of nowhere to win the Pac-10 tournament beating tournament teams California Berkeley, University of California Los Angeles and Arizona State. 

Freshman DeMar DeRozan has started to play like he was expected to all year, putting up 21 and 25 points in back-to-back games against UCLA and Arizona State.

Both Boston College and Michigan State have been wildly inconsistent this year, not always in wins and losses, but just their overall play. 

And there can’t be inconsistency in the tournament if teams want to advance far.

Now onto my Final Four predictions:

Wake Forrest (No. 4) out of the Midwest region over Connecticut (No. 1) out of the West region. 

After UCONN guard Jerome Dyson was lost for the season with an inury, UCONN’s scoring options have been severely limited. 

A.J. Price and Jeff Adrien have been stepping up in the scoring department, but to win games late in the tournament they will need another scoring threat. 

Where will it come from? Hasheem Thabeet? His offensive game isn’t refined enough for him to be a consistent scorer. 

I think this will be UCONN’s undoing and their season will end in the Final Four. 

North Carolina (No. 1) out of the South region over Pittsburgh (No. 1) out of the East region. 

You just cannot bet against this North Carolina team, led by seniors Marcus Ginyard, Danny Green and Tyler Hansbrough. 

This core group of seniors will not let this team lose, and this far in the tournament it comes down to desire just as much as skill. 

And something that this Carolina team doesn’t lack is desire. 

Wake Forrest (No. 1) over North Carolina (No. 1) for the National Championship.

Ok, well there is one instance where you can bet against those Carolina seniors, and that’s when they play a team that they lost to in the regular season who has only gotten better after that game. 

The injury to North Carolina point guard Ty Lawson worries me, because Carolina is a totally different team when Lawson isn’t at full strength. 

Especially when they are going up against a Wake team that has a dominant scoring point guard in Jeff Teague, who’s averaging just over 19 points per game.

Teague’s dynamic scoring ability makes him the difference maker in this game considering North Carolina’s trouble with high scoring point guards, which was evident in all four of their losses this season. 

Wake also has a long and athletic frontcourt led by sophomore James Johnson and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu. 

Carolina has the experience edge, considering most of these guys were on last years Final Four team. 

But I’m going with youth in this instance, which can also be an advantage as these young kids don’t feel as great a pressure to succeed and just play the game. 

So there it is, Wake Forrest beating UNC for the National Championship. 

Here’s hoping I can keep my streak alive, and if not, not too many people read this blog anyway.