Tips for Filling in Your Bracket, for dummies V.1

If you're like half our staff (and 87% of the population) and you 1) haven't started watching NC dub-A basketball until just very recently (like... this weekend) and 2) the bracket/pick-em/tourney-prediction/whatever-they-call-it game looks quite exciting to you, you're in luck. We now offer to you...

Tips for Filling in Your Bracket, for dummies V.1

1. Pick whichever team's name sounds more familiar. For example, unless you bleed yellowish-orange and blue, you're probably not too familiar with Oral Roberts University. (We're not.) Therefore, you go with Washington St., which actually has a state named after it. (Or is it the other way around?)

2. Compare mascots. If you obviously prefer dogs over cats, then pick the college with the multicolored dog. If you have no preference, imagine the two mascots in a fierce battle and pick the one that would come out on top. For example, what if the Florida Gators duked it out with the Jackson St. Tigers?

3. Pay attention to the rankings. As much as you want to be the only one in your league to pick 11th-ranked Winthrop to win the whole damned tourney, keep in mind they share the same region as Florida, Notre Dame, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Don't be an idiot, seriously.

4. Pick upsets. Here's the exception to tip three. Everyone knows that the higher-ranked team will not always beat the lower-ranked team, and some giant killer (term used to refer to overachieving underdogs) will crawl its way into the later rounds. Playing personal biases and the other tips, select a few likely upsets in the early rounds. You'll probably get smirked at when you miss a majority of them, but you'll certainly look like an "expert bracketologist" come Butler's semi-final win.

5. Ask around. Get a feel for which teams and upsets your fellow leaguemates are selecting, and jump on the bandwagon. This is one game where blending in is sometimes actually a good thing.

6. Pick by color (also known as the "fashion pick"). Screw expert analysis. If you're sick of watching white jerseys, go for Florida's blue and orange combo. Or Texas orange.

7. Pick a number, not any number. Most leagues require you to predict the final score of the championship game (or a point total) as a tiebreaker. In the event you actually make it that far with these tips, which the odds we place between Brett Favre retiring and Lions GM Matt Millen firing himself, actually put some thought into this: if your bracket totally crashes down in flames and you guess the score on the spot, you have at least some psychic power to brag about. Keep in mind that each team can score somewhere between 60-90 points, although Championship games mostly run a little high.

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Well, dummies, there you have it. We wish you the best of luck in your bracket-related endeavors. If you actually end up winning in your league with these principles, please let us know. We're interested.