The Madness has begun: Bracketology

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No matter how many hours of footage and commentary of NCAA basketball we digest, every year, there's always someone in our March Madness bracket pools that unexpectedly makes all the right picks and gets the cash prize. 

Meanwhile, we're left staring at our piles of crumpled brackets wondering if the above person  even watched a game all season. What is the secret that these swamis-of-bracketology possess? Pure intuition or pure luck? When all your tried-and-true methods fail, here are some methods at your disposal that you may not have considered:

1. Always, and I mean always,  pick the coolest school names:

Xavier sounds awesome! I don't even know how to say it, but how many other schools outside of China do you know that start with X? The only other school I can think of with an X is that X-men Academy. Ooh, Gonzaga, now that really rolls off the tongue. But I don't think they can beat Xavier's mutants in the championship game.

2. Pick the school most closely related to your religious affiliation:

Father Robert agrees with me that St. John's can beat BYU any day of the week. But St. Peter's vs. Notre Dame is going to be a tough choice…

3. Never forget your roots, unless you're from wherever Morehead St. is.

4. Picking your favorite color also has been proven to work:

Those baby blue Tar Heel jerseys are just fabulous. Final Four here we go!

5. Consider which mascot names would win in an actual fight:

The UCSB Gauchos, how austere and intimidating. Blue Devils, definitely wouldn't want to mess with them. Oh no a cataclysmic battle of amazing mascot names: the Akron Zips vs. the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They're both awesome, but there's no way the Fighting Irish will be sober the day after St. Patty's Day. Go Zips, whatever you are. [But you may not want to pick any of these creepiest college mascots]

6. When mascots are the same, i.e. Villanova Wildcats vs. Kentucky Wildcats, go for the one with a better jersey. Hey this is bad advice, they're both blue and white.

7. Then resort to picking the one with the better record, no matter what conference they play in. The Long Island Blackbirds of the NEC have a better record than North Carolina, pssh, easy choice there.

8. Last but not least, Ivy League teams may not be better, but they might just outsmart the competition. Go Princeton!

For those new to the madness that would love to try (and fail) to actually beat these guys above and   to at least sound smarter about bracketology and be able to argue reasonably with self-appointed braketologists:

1. Always look at which conference they came from and see how tough the competition was in there.

2. Look to see if those teams matched up during the regular season.

3. See how hot the team has been in the last few games and if they'll be able to ride that success all the way through the Big Dance.

4. Find out about any recent injuries or suspensions to players on teams with good records all year (BYU).

5. If you're playing points per seed (the ninth seed gets you nine points times the round) go for the occasional upset in round one for closely seeded games. As long as you don't pick the upset team to go too far, this is usually a safe choice because either choice will probably lose in the next round anyway to a one or two seed.

According to http://www.cbssports.com/columns/story/12999361 here are how the round one games have fared over the last 25 years of the modern tournament:

5 vs. 12 The 12 seed has pulled the upset 34 of 100 times

6 vs.11 The 11 seed has won 21 of 100 times

7 vs. 10 The 10 seed--39 of 100

8 vs. 9 The 9 seed--54 of 100!

These four matchups can make or break your bracket in Round One.

6. Don't count on a showdown of No. 1 teams in the final game. According to CBS sports, this only happens about one in every five tourneys. Find a solid No. 2 or 3 team that could go all the way.
   

And if you want to join a friendly not-for-profit [but for bragging rights, which are still pretty awesome] bracket challenge, click to join The Pen's Landing's tournament challenge. You'll need to make a cbs sports account, and then you're good to go. Password for the group is marchmadness2011. Let the Madness begin!