Get Mad

It's here. The most entertaining sports event of the year. The NCAA tournament. There's no other game, playoff, or championship that even matches the three weekends of March Madness. The biggest reason why? Those freaking brackets you fill out and labor over every year. Teams that you would have never heard of otherwise (Murray State? Siena?) are suddenly relevant. And because you want so badly to maintain your bracket's integrity, you find yourself getting wayyy too into these games.

One thing I hear people say is that sometimes when they watch close games between an underdog and a power, they start rooting for the dog even if it means that their bracket will collapse. Okay, that's the biggest load of BS ever. You want to have the best bracket of all your friends. You want to be able to wave it in their faces. You want to be able to show off just how much you "know" about college basketball. For example, remember George Mason's magical run a few years ago? Sure, I was amazed just like everyone else. But damn, I was rooting so hard against them in some of those later rounds because I was dangerously close to having zero teams in the Final Four (which, unfortunately, ended up happening). Anyway, the point is that first and foremost, you want to have the best bracket. There's always time later to reminisce about those magical runs.

One more thing. I know a lot of people have money at stake for a lot of their pools or some other kind of wager. But I play for pride. Does that sound noble? Sure. Does it sound kind of douchey? Yeah, probably. But it's the truth. I like to think I know a fair amount about sports and the tournament presents an opportunity to show that off. At the same time, however, the tournament is also a prime opportunity to be humbled as it can reveal just how little you actually know...

Here's my one piece of advice to you when you fill out your brackets: just be correct at the end. Let me explain. You can go crazy early, pick some random upsets in the first few rounds, but your bracket needs to look pretty good from the Elite Eight on because that's where you score the big points. Example: last year I picked the opening two rounds pretty accurately, something like 43 of the first 48 games. Feeling pretty good, right? But my bracket fell apart late, I only picked one Final Four team, and I didn't pick the national champion. I ended up finishing fourth or so. So just remember: get it right at the end.

With that, let's look at this year's tourney. Kansas is the consensus favorite, and with good reason. They've got size, speed, good coaching, and experience. They also have one of the keys to a good college basketball team: a white guy who dominates now, but will probably be warming the bench in the NBA (Cole Aldrich). Bonus points for having a white guy on the team with a cool name (Brady Morningstar). However, they've been put in the toughest bracket, which makes zero sense since they're supposedly the top seed overall. If they get past Michigan State in the Sweet 16, I like them to get to the Final Four and win the tournament.

The one-seed with the easiest bracket? Duke. Of course it is Duke, so they'll probably find someway to choke. Kentucky looks pretty good too with John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. They are freshmen, though, so who knows how they'll hang when crunch time comes. Also, John Wall might be distracted by the prospect of being drafted by the Nets and trying to figure some way out of it.

As for Cinderellas... I just don't see any high-number seed getting very far. I'm sure there will be a couple who get out of the first weekend, but that's probably about it. Look for the big boys to be there at the end.

But the best thing about this year's tournament? Games streamed live online. Can you say ultimate work distraction? Yes, yes I can.

Here's my Final Four.

Kansas, Kansas State, West Virginia, Duke - with Kansas your national champion.

Rock chalk, Jayhawk.