If you haven’t joined, you still have some time.

I will reveal to you my formula for a winning bracket. Success rate for this formula is not very high. But because of my own personal bias, I believe what I am doing is right.

Here are my beliefs, philosophies and strategies to a perfect bracket. Not fool-proof, but I’m sticking with it.

• If you’ve never heard of the school, don’t pick them to win more than two games.
• If you didn’t know that school had a basketball team, they will not win more than two games.
• If the school is better known for football, do not expect them to go far. Familiarity by name for the wrong reason is not the right reason. The only exception to this is Florida.
• If the school has a history of great basketball programs, favor them to go deep.
• If the school is sponsored by Adidas, do not favor them. They can be good, but they won’t win it all. Last year was a fluke.
• The 12th seed over the 5th seed thing is real and you should at least have one of those matchups picked.
• Teams that had good runs in recent years are bound to repeat.
• Duke sucks.
• If the team did not finish strong in the regular season, chances are that that will carry over.
• Don’t let the seedings fool you. No. 1 isn’t always the best team.
• Be bold and if you so dare, pick a No. 2 team to lose its first game. It is likelier than you think.

There you go. You can thank me later.