You do you.

If you want to do 5 different brackets and ruin March for yourself, you do you.

As for me, well, I’ll do me. “Doing me” consists of a bracket of integrity. One shot. There are no “brackets busted vs. brackets alive.” It’s bracket busted or bracket alive.

Last year, my bracket was more alive than it’ll ever be. Three Final Four teams accurately predicted (Houston, Baylor and Gonzaga) with the national championship perfectly predicted was a once-in-a-lifetime bracket. I won my pool with 15 people before the Final Four even started.

I say this because I’m fully aware that I won’t repeat this feat. I’m also fully aware that I’m riding high, so at the very least, I’ll sound inexplicably confident with my picks. If that’s your goal, well, you’ve come to the right place. If your goal is to try and have your perfect bracket, well, fade away.

Either way, you’ve come to the right place. Enough talking. Let’s get to the fun stuff.

And by “fun stuff,” I mean a few things I try to keep in mind while filling out my bracket.

Don’t be Mr./Mrs. Chalk

Just don’t. We haven’t seen all 1-seeds in the Final Four since 2008. Don’t do it. It’s a lose-lose scenario. You not only are the most hated person in your bracket pool, but you also don’t get credit if you win.

This also isn’t just about winning bracket pools. It’s about entertainment. It’s about being able to celebrate an upset and appreciate the madness. You don’t really get to enjoy madness if you just pick chalk.

Get weird. Even if it’s picking the mascots, go out on a limb.

But the national champ isn’t the place to get weird

It’s just not. Pick that 5-seed to beat the 12-seed. Just don’t pick that 5-seed to win a title. What about 2014 UConn, you ask? Well, here’s the breakdown of national championship winners by seed in the 21st century:

  • No. 1 (2021 Baylor, 2019 Virginia, 2018 Villanova, 2017 UNC, 2015 Duke, 2013 Louisville, 2012 Kentucky, 2010 Duke, 2009 UNC, 2008 Kansas, 2007 Florida, 2005 UNC, 2002 Maryland, 2001 Duke, 2000 Michigan State)
  • No. 2 (2016 Villanova, 2004 UConn)
  • No. 3 (2011 UConn, 2006 Florida, 2003 Syracuse)
  • No. 4
  • No. 5
  • No. 6
  • No. 7 (2014 UConn)

That’s right. As random as this tournament is, look at that. Of 21 national champions in the 21st century, 15 of them were No. 1 seeds. I mean, 17 of 21 were top-2 seeds. The last 4 national champs were 1-seeds and the last 9 were top-2 seeds.

That’s telling.

The Big Ten’s big March bust

The league with 9 (!) teams in the field is also searching for its first national champ in 22 years. Since Michigan State won it all in 2000, we watched 7 different Big Ten teams reach the title game and lose. Last year, the same thing happened and the league got just 1 team to the Sweet 16 while the 5-bid Pac-12 got 3 teams into the Elite 8. Will history repeat itself?

I bring this up because if you simply default to the team from the deepest conference, you could be massively disappointed. This year, the Big Ten gets credit for that.

Only once (2017) in the last 7 years did we see the national champion come from the conference who had the most teams in the field. Don’t be surprised if that trend continues.

Have fun!

I might’ve said that I’m a 1-bracket guy, but I also enjoy entering several pools. If gambling is your thing and you want to do that responsibly, by all means. This is an incredible time of year, and as we all remember 2 years ago, it can be taken from us at a moment’s notice.

Cheers to March. Let’s bracket.

West

Winner — Gonzaga

Team that can blow up my bracket — Alabama

Basic? Basic. I’m not holding the WCC against the Zags because of the nonconference slate that we saw. Wins against Texas, UCLA and Texas Tech should squash any notion that Mark Few’s team is about to be overwhelmed in March. I mean, there are plenty of returners from last year’s national runner-up.

Texas Tech will be a brutal foe for 60 minutes with how well the Red Raiders defend. There could be some potential Baylor flashbacks there, but ultimately, I think the Zags get through a challenging Elite 8 matchup.

Could Alabama take down Texas Tech and make a push to the Elite 8? It would certainly continue what’s been a wild, roller coaster season. Go figure that the Tide already beat Gonzaga. I’m banking on that all-world Texas Tech defense to put the clamps on Alabama and force the 3-happy Tide into some bad shots. But if Nate Oats’ team somehow gets out of that opening round matchup, look out.

East

Winner — Kentucky

Team that can blow up my bracket — Purdue

I’m all aboard the Kentucky bandwagon. The biggest season-to-season turnaround in school history should culminate with a deep March run. Why? The Cats are experienced and multi-faceted. Oscar Tshiebwe is going to be a nightmare matchup whenever he steps on the floor, and because of how well he stays out of foul trouble, I’m not even overly concerned about that scenario presenting itself.

As long as TyTy Washington can stay healthy, John Calipari’s team should be able to handle a pretty favorable regional, even though part of me is worried that Chris Beard’s squad could shake off this horrendous stretch to close the season.

But the team that worries me even more is Purdue. What if this is finally the year that Matt Painter has the NBA-ready star (Jaden Ivey) to make a deep run to a Final Four? I’m admittedly discounting Purdue because of the poor adjusted defensive efficiency numbers (No. 100 in KenPom), but that could be a mistake. Maybe Zach Edey would have the chops to slow down Tshiebwe and that could be all she wrote for the Cats.

It’s possible, but I’ll roll with Kentucky making its first Final Four in 7 years.

South

Winner — Illinois

Team that can blow up my bracket — Chattanooga

One of the reasons why I rolled in my bracket pool last year was because I wasn’t sipping the Illinois Kool Aid. I was skeptical of a team who hadn’t been on that stage, and sure enough, Loyola-Chicago had a better game plan to shut down Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn. Now Dosunmu is off starring for the Chicago Bulls as a rookie and Cockburn is back to try and right the wrong that was 2021.

I’m all in on the revenge tour.

I think it’s Andre Curbelo who has the biggest year-to-year bounce back to fuel a deep run that includes a 2005 rematch with Arizona, as well as a showdown with the scorching hot Tennessee team. Those 2 potential games combined with last year’s shortcomings will scare many off Illinois. I’m not one of them. Cockburn is a cheat code that so few teams can account for. I realize that means getting through Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Christian Koloko. Still, Cockburn will be a man on a mission on the low block.

Well, that’s assuming the Illini can get through Chattanooga. The Mocs can slow the tempo down, which goes against an Illinois team who would rather play in transition. Part of me could see that backcourt catching fire and putting Illinois back in a familiar spot against a lesser foe in an early round game. I’ll instead default to experience and assume that lightning won’t strike twice.

Midwest

Winner — Kansas

Team that can blow up my bracket — Miami (FL)

I’m old enough to remember being a sophomore in college and picking Kansas to win the 2010 title, only to watch the Jayhawks get a full dose of Ali Farokhmanesh in the Round of 32. You don’t forget those losses. Thankfully, though, this Kansas team was in elementary school when that happened.

More importantly, Bill Self’s 2021-22 team has size, depth and experience. We watched Kansas beat a solid Texas squad by 7 with Ochai Agbaji having what was easily his worst offensive showing of the year. Kansas rolled through the Big 12 Tournament, which was a continuation of how it looked in the 6 weeks after the Kentucky mess. I don’t think Iowa defends well enough to slow down Kansas, who has seen no shortage of elite defensive teams in the Big 12.

Miami (FL) is scary because obviously, I’m picking USC to flip its late-season script with a run to the Elite 8. Yes, I realize that Miami is No. 62 in KenPom, and ever since that stunner at Duke, we really haven’t seen the Canes rise to the occasion against anyone close to that level. I guess there’s a part of me that will always assume Jim Larranaga is about to bust out another George Mason run to the Final Four. If he does, well, kiss this bracket goodbye.

Final Four

Semifinals — Kentucky over Gonzaga, Kansas over Illinois

National Championship — Kansas over Kentucky

Yes, I’m picturing a few juicy storylines playing out in the Final Four. In one semifinal matchup, we’d have Bill Self getting a reunion with Illinois. That fanbase is still bitter he left for Kansas nearly 2 decades ago. That matchup would sell itself. And if Kansas and Kentucky could both get past deep foes with All-American bigs, we’d get Calipari facing the Kansas team who stole a title from him back when he was at Memphis in 2008.

Oh, wait. What about the rematch from earlier in the season, you ask? Yes, who could forget Kentucky waltzing into Allen Fieldhouse and beating the breaks off the Jayhawks. Kentucky played a perfect game, and it did so without a full capacity version of Washington. Surely that favors the Cats, right? Nope.

Like we just saw with the national championship on the gridiron, sometimes a rematch is just what the doctor ordered.