WEEKEND EDITION - 3.13.10 March Madness Time

It's that time again... MARCH MADNESS! If you live on another planet, I'm referring to the NCAA Basketball Tournament...  Round 1 of the Tournament begins next Thursday (with a "play in" game being held the day before)... This Tournament (after the Super Bowl) is probably one of the most hyped sporting events in America each year... One of the favorite pastimes of Americans is to become involved in filling out the BRACKETS for the teams advancing through the rounds based on their Tournament seeds (much like tennis)... There are countless "office pools" and parlor games devoted to this...


Survivor Capital is no different... CV has set up, on YAHOO SPORTS, an NCAA Tournament Bracket selection group (which is free to play)... This is simply for "bragging rights"... Who, this year, will be top dog in picking the right teams to move towards to the National Championship... I'll be adding to this thread as the weekend goes by, but if you're interested in participating, follow the link to get yourself signed up... First, go to http://sports.yahoo.com/

Many already know these steps, but I'll walk you thru the pages.

At this point, you may have to set up a YAHOO MAIL ID (which is profile for all FANTASY games).

GROUP ID# 26140

PASSWORD: p3isamyth

"Selection Sunday" (where the final brackets and Tournament schedule will be determined, is tomorrow)... After that, you'll have until Wednesday to fill out your picks at the YAHOO FANTASY SPORTS site that I gave you...


If you're "new" to this, I'll provide you with a "starter kit" of ideas on how to go about selecting your teams... This also may be beneficial to those of you who are involved in your local office brackets, or those among friends...


CV's 10 rules (in selecting teams to advance):



1. Avoid the FROSH (Point Guards): Even a very talented player will run into trouble sooner or later at this level of play. Point Guards are squad commanders, go with EXPERIENCE.

2. Heroes mean ZEROES: Teams that battled through a tough Conference Tourney schedule are too exhausted to go deep in the NCAA's

3. Coaches that lack the MOJO: Some coaches always make a quick exit from the NCAA Tournament. They can't seem to handle the March Madness pressure & their teams never do better than their potential. Examples in recent years include: Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh), Bob Huggins (West Virginia), Mark Few (Gonzaga) and Al Skinner (Boston College).

4. Road "Worriers": If you can't win on the road during the regular season, you have hardly a chance to make it through the NCAA Tournament.

5. Crop the Slop: Sloppy teams, those that have trouble scoring are always among the first to lose in the NCAA Tournament.

6. Beware the One Eyed Monster: Teams that have only one great player never go deep into the NCAA Tournament.

7. Dr. Chokenstein: Certain players choke every year. (same idea as "choking" coaches).

8. Automatic Outs for 16s and 15s: Don't even think about advancing a 16 or a 15 seed into the second round of your bracket. EVER!

9. Who let the Dogs IN?: Dog conferences lead to dog performances by the teams from that conference.

10. You've got the "Look": Seventeen of the past 18 teams that have won the NCAA Tournament have shared these traits:

- Had a head coach who was with the team the year before.
- Scored 76 points per game.
- Out-scored their opponents by an average of at least 10 points.
- Had been seeded 1-4.
- Participated in the NCAA Tournament the year before.