Selection Sunday: Potential matchups to look forward to

The 2015 NCAA tournament bracket has been revealed, meaning we now have 32 terrific matchups to look forward to over the course of two days starting Thursday.

It also means you'll be filling out your bracket shortly. As you do, you're sure to stumble on some terrific matchups in the later rounds. It'll leave you rooting not only for the success of your bracket but for the betterment of the overall March Madness story arch and the assurance of incredible game quality for the next two-plus weeks.

What follows are some of the potential marquee matchups we came across when perusing the bracket for the first time. But first, a quick look at the very best Round of 64 showdowns.

Round of 64

• No. 6 Xavier vs. No. 11 BYU or No. 11 Ole Miss - Statistically, this is the most likely first-round upset on the board.
• No. 5 Utah vs. No. 12 Stephen F. Austin - An unlucky draw for the Utes has them under-seeded and at serious risk of an upset.
• No. 6 SMU vs. No. 11 UCLA - The Bruins have been made the villain thanks to an unexpected berth in the tourney but they have the mettle to upset the Mustangs.
• No. 4 UNC vs. No. 13 Harvard - The Tar Heels love to push the pace, which is about the very last thing Harvard is game for. If the Ivy League champions can grind the game to a halt, things could get interesting.
• No. 7 VCU vs. No. 10 Ohio State - Our man D'Angelo "Voodoo" Russell is always reason to tune in, and there may not be a game more up in the air than this one.

All Kentucky everything

Is there any Kentucky game that won't be must-see viewing, at least until the score gets out of hand? These matchups in particular stand out:

• Sweet Sixteen, Maryland - Hey, they beat Wisconsin.
• Elite Eight, Wichita State - If the Shockers can get past Kansas, it's not inconceivable they could gather the momentum to get this far, at which point their top-20 mark on both ends could prove a stark challenge. This would also be a rematch of their excellent 2014 Round of 32 battle, with the seedings nearly flipped.
• Elite Eight, Kansas - Not that it was particularly good the first time around (72-40), but Kansas' defense has been excellent and Kentucky can't just roll through the whole region, right? Right??
• Final Four, Wisconsin - Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie-Cauley Stein defending Frank Kaminsky? Yes. This, too, would stand as a 2014 rematch, this time from Kentucky's semi-final victory a year ago.
• National Championship, Duke - Towns and Jahlil Okafor battling to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft on the biggest stage imaginable? Yes, again, please.

Their loss, not ours

Plenty of teams drew tough potential second-round matchups. That's a real hard break for them, but it should make for some excellent Saturday-Sunday viewing.

• Kansas-Wichita State - While either represents an interesting opponent for Kentucky, they also guarantee a fun game against each other. Both teams rank in the top-15 on defense and are in the top-15 overall, by KenPom ranking, so there's no way we should be this lucky on opening weekend.
• Wofford-Harvard - Far less likely than Kansas-Wichita State is this battle of double-digit seeds, the most likely double-upset pushing a low seed to the Sweet Sixteen.
• Virginia-Michigan State - We wouldn't argue with a rematch of last year's epic Sweet Sixteen showdown.

Other intriguing possibilities

• Iowa-Iowa State - It seems unlikely Iowa will make it past a tough first two battles, but if they do, an all-corn battle awaits in the Sweet Sixteen.
• Wisconsin-Arizona - It's a one-two seed which seems obvious, but this one would be particularly enticing with the Badgers' No. 1 offense taking on the Wildcats' No. 3 defense.
• Gonzaga-Davidson - The ultimate battle of popular recent underdogs in the Round of 32.
• Louisville-UC Irvine - It's another first-round match, which is kind of cheating, but Montrezl Harrell is totally going to bang on 7-foot-6 Mamadou Ndiaye.

All-Wildcats

There's no way it would happen, but it's theoretically possible to have an all-Wildcats Final Four:

• South Region: Arizona
• West Region: Davidson
• Midwest Region: Kentucky
• East Region: Villanova