by John Atchison

Created on: March 18, 2013   Last Updated: March 20, 2013

As the middle of March makes its approach, college basketball fans are known to come down with a strange ailment. This condition, known as March Madness, can cause absences from work and tremendous headaches. Those migraines can arise from the age old problem of trying to uncover the secret formula for how to win an NCAA March Madness bracket pool, whether it be online or at work. Everyone claims to have a system in place that leads them to riches each time the tournament comes around.

The problem is when one checks back a week after the tourney starts these junior Vegas ringers are the same people that have their brackets balled up in the wastebasket. In reality, there is no sure fire method of picking the winner, but there are some helpful pointers that can get an amateur prognosticator going in the right direction. Here are some of these hints that can help one be a success come March Madness time.

If one is going to be serious about trying to win a bracket pool, then make sure to do a little research before filling things out. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from seeing whom teams played during the season. Far too many folks glance down the matchups and pick early games based on the win loss records of teams.

That is a monumental mistake as there have been numerous teams that come in with a 27-3 record, but deeper inspection shows that they beat no one ranked in the top 50. That is a recipe for a first round dismissal and a broken pool. Signature wins are defined as victories over elite competition. Do not pick teams to make the Elite 8 that have not achieved a signature win during the year. Examine the strength of a team's conference overall.

Most pools assign different point values for each round of the March Madness bracket. Pickers usually see first rounders worth a point, with the overall champion being worth maybe 10 points. So they go about picking and concentrate on their final four almost from the outset. Value every game, especially the opening rounds. Folks might be surprised how many bracket pools come down to the champion winning by a single point. It is not because they won the last game, but usually because they outshone other prognosticators in the opening rounds.

Another no no is to go the all favorites route. Too many folks go down the boards, picking the high ranked or big name teams, forgetting about that little word called upset. Every year, one continual fact holds true: upsets have and will occur. It is just the

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