More Bracket Advice

Once again, we have come to that production-halting time of the year known as March Madness. Technically it starts tonight with the four 'First Round' games (which, let's be clear, are play-in games - I don't care what the NCAA would like you to call them), but for the majority of us the tournament doesn't get rolling until Thursday. Now, last year I offered some truly terrible advice in how you should fill out your brackets and, good news for you, I'm back to do it again. Let's get to it.

-Don't over-think. Last year the first thing I thought upon seeing the brackets was how easy Duke's road to the Final Four was going to be. But, then I got to thinking about how Duke wasn't a particularly good team and even though they had an alright season, I figured someone was bound to step up and take them down early. Then I started talking myself into all the upsets that could happen and filled out that region using that logic. This was obviously wrong, as Duke won the National Championship. My point is this: you should continue to expect high-seeded schools to be good, rather than think some mid-level team is suddenly going to get their act together after six months. If you think a team has an easy path, they probably do.

-Pay attention to how teams finished. I'm not talking conference tournaments, because those games are always a crapshoot, but the regular season. Stumbling to the finish can be a real warning sign. Every team has a bad couple of games, but you do not want those game coming in late-February. That's why teams like Villanova, Texas and Georgetown should be picked with extreme caution.

-Look at the regions individually. This way you end up with the teams you actually like, not teams based on their numbers. I always fill my brackets out one region at a time and don't worry about my Final Four until I get there. There is nothing worse than hearing from the person who doesn't like that they ended up with four #1 seeds and suddenly feels the need to go back and not be such a front-runner. Hey, if that's how you think it will end up than that's how you think it will end up. In a year like this seeding is pretty meaningless anyway.

-Don't be a homer. This rule only applies if you are playing for actual money and not just the fun of it. If you are just filling out a bracket to kill some time, enjoy putting Bucknell into the final game. If there is real cash on the line than it doesn't really matter where you went to school if that institution is about to get beat-down. Loyalty only gets you so far. Think about it like this: if you come out on top you can take part of your winnings and send the school you actually went to a nice donation this year.

-Don't be afraid of going with the crowd. I hate when someone asks for your Final Four picks and after you tell them they hit you with, "God, that's the match-up everyone has." Well, would you like to know why? Because those are the good teams. I shouldn't feel guilty about having eyes, watching a lot of hoops and therefore knowing the Pac-10 isn't very good this year. I'd love a little variety, but I can only pick from the teams I'm allowed to. So yes, my Final Four has two #1 seeds and two #2 seeds, but it's not like I'm the only one. I'll take being right over being unoriginal any day of the week.

So, that's the best advice I can give you before we get going. Now enjoy the games.