March Madness: Keys to the 2007 Men's NCAA Tournament

Thatguysports had a fairly decent NCAA Bowl Season if you ignore the mid point of the season (which I obviously am) so stick with me and I'll teach you how to win your NCAA March Madness pool.

I'll try to channel horrendous color commentator Randy Cross for a little thatguysportsblog version of Cross-Talk.

1. Avoid the ACC.

I know some of my 7 readers truly think the ACC walks on water, but I'm here to tell you that you should view the ACC this tournament season as the Big-10 during football. Over rated. Avoid them and you'll be in much better shape in this year's tournament than those that believe in the blatantly average mid-Atlantics (Maryland, UVA, Va Tech.)

2. Ride the Big-12.

Its entirely possible that 3/8 of the Elite 8 is from the Big-12. Nobody would be surprised if 3/4 of the Final Four is from the Big-12.

3. Forget about George Mason.

I'm here to tell you that there will be no George Mason this year. George Mason can't even be George Mason. No mid-major this year will threaten the Final Four. The parody that the country is seeing is not on the elite level. You hear far more discussion this year about mediocre teams that got left out than seedings for the teams that made it. Because this year there' s a clear-cut iron to the tournament. And the parody that you see, is at the "also-ran" level.

4. Get lucky.

If my calculations are correct, you're going to win your tournament pool this year by "guessing right" when it comes down to the Elite 8. I think there will be a lot of similar brackets from the 3rd round and on.

5. Remember that the Big-10 is extremely overrated.

In everything that it does.

6. The Big-East can't score.

Almost every team in the Big East would fall under the category of "can struggle scoring" at times. That is KILLER for the NCAA tournament. Granted the 6 fouls vs 5 fouls issue is long gone, but the style of play is the same. Oh and for along the same lines, please see: Ten, The Big.

So there you have it. 6 keys to your tournament.

You can thank me later.

Look for my complete brackets on Thursday.