Amateur Advice On Filling Out Your NCAA Bracket

March Madness!  It's again that time of year when millions of us waste time and money trying to pick winners in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  It's a tough task.  With a field of 68 teams, there are over 9 quint-trillion possible outcomes.

Always picking the higher seed is probably the best strategy, but also the most boring.  So here are a handful of alternate strategies designed to provide a little fun, if not victories, as you fill out your bracket.

1.  Go Presidential, aka Barack My World, aka Obama-Rama.  Just use President Obama's picks.  Historically, he's been pretty good.  If you're a Tea Bagger, just pick all the opposite teams.

2.  Go for shorter coaches.  Forget our supposed societal preference for taller men.  In big-time college hoops, shorter is better.  Duke's Mike Kryzewski, Louisville's Rick Pitino, Florida's Billy Donavan, and VCU's Shaka Smart have all had recent tournament success.

3.  Go alphabetical.  Using A-to-Z order, we'll get a Final Four of Akron, Albany, Arizona and Bucknell.  Akron will defeat Albany in the championship game.







4.  Go reverse-alphabetical.  Z-to-A order yields a Final Four of Wisconsin, Western Kentucky, Virginia Commonwealth and Valparaiso.  Wisconsin beats WKU to win it all.

5.  Go Garanimals.  Color-coordinate your picks by uniform color.  Red favorites, by region,  are Louisville, Indiana, Ohio State, and San Diego State.  Blue favorites are Gonzaga, Kansas, Duke, and Marquette.  Green leaders are Miami, Michigan State, Notre Dame, and Oregon.

6.  Go for funny mascot names.  Long Island-Brooklyn Blackbirds, Iona Gaels, St. Louis Billikens, Akron Zips, and South Dakota State Jack Rabbits.









7.  Pick a #16 seed to beat a #1 seed.  Hey, it's gotta happen sometime!

8.  Or . . . just do everything exactly like you did it last year when you also didn't win.