Check Out My Bracket

* Not So Hot: It’s not a deal-breaker if your team is on a so-so run entering the NCAA Tournament. Last season’s Sweet 16 included two teams (USC, Vanderbilt) that went 5-5 in the final 10 pre-tournament games and two more (Pittsburgh, Butler) that went 6-4.

* Don’t Go For Huge Upsets: Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, No. 1 seeds are 92-0 against No. 16 seeds. No. 2 seeds are 88-4 against No. 15 seeds.

* Study Your No. 12 Seeds: In 11 of the last 13 tournaments, at least one No. 12 seed has beaten a No. 5. In 2002, three of the four No. 12 seeds won a game.

* Top Three: Top three seeded teams have won 22 of the last 25 titles. One title each has been won by a No. 4, No. 6 and No. 8 seed. No other seed has won the tournament.

* Major Conference Domination: In the past 15 years, 55 of the 60 Final Four teams have come from the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC or Pac-10. The five that didn’t were Massachusetts (Atlantic 10) in 1996, Utah (Mountain West) in 1998, Marquette (Conference USA) in 2003, Louisville (C-USA) in 2005 and George Mason (Colonial) in 2006.

* The ACC Factor: In 19 of the past 25 seasons, at least one ACC team has made the Final Four.

* Ultimate Matchups: Since seeding began in 1979, the tournament championship game has matched a pair of No. 1 teams only five times – 1982 (North Carolina-Georgetown), 1993 (North Carolina-Michigan), 1999 (Connecticut-Duke), 2005 (North Carolina-Illinois) and 2007 (Florida-Ohio State).

* No. 1 Priority: Since 1979, at least No. 1 seed has made the Final Four in every year except 1980 and 2006. There has never been a Final Four with all four No. 1 seeds (the closest was 1993, when No. 1 seeds North Carolina, Michigan and Kentucky were joined by No. 2 Kansas).

* The Perfect Bracket: So you think it’s possible to select the correct winner in each of the tournament’s 63 games? There are more than nine quintillion different ways to fill out a bracket (9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possibilities, to be exact).