In the spirit of Spencer Hall's Rootability Index, here are your 2011 NCAA Tournament rooting interest recommendations via excellent HTML table:
| Region | Rooting Interest | Long-Despised Archrival | But Why? |
| East | Georgia Bulldogs | Washington Huskies |
Hi, this is SB Nation Atlanta. And say hello to future NBA Slam Dunk Contest snub* Travis Leslie. * Some Knicks player will win it in his home arena for doing a very standard dunk, but doing it while wearing some hat and Twitpicing himself. |
| Southeast | Belmont Bruins | Wisconsin Badgers |
This isn't the Unrootability HTML Table, but how could you root for Wisconsin? When they're not setting the sport back decades, they're running the slowest offense in the entire nation. Or spitting on Jared Sullinger or whatever. Antidote? Belmont's involved, exhausting-to-watch attack that involves trotting out just about the entire athletic department every game -- 11 players average double figures in minutes. They're the hot upset pick, seeing as Wisconsin sucks on the road and at modern basketball, but rooting for Belmont is simply the right thing to do. |
| Southwest | UNLV Runnin' Rebels | Illinois Fighting Illini | The early 1990s were pretty awesome, though I kind of wanted to pick Georgetown for that reason, but I don't think anybody associates Georgetown with the early 1990s as much as I do. Alonzo Mourning was my favorite player in the mid 1990s, when I gave up on the Atlanta Hawks for a while. |
| West | San Diego St. Aztecs | Northern Colorado Notlookingitups |
They like to talk about Jimmer Fredette and Brandon Davies, but the best story in west coast basketball this season -- by far -- has been San Diego State. Do you realize this program had never even been ranked before this season, and here they are with a No. 2 seed in a friendly region, about to win their first March Madness game ever? You may not have, since nobody talks about it because Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer Jimmer. |