How-do folks? Len Gotti here to give you that which you won't get on ESPNis, CBS and every other network from now until Thursday afternoon when your brackets are due in for your office pools and internet pick em'
dealies [like I'm doing]. Two things before I start and no, it's not any of that high ground, moral soap box crap. Just two certainties you can bet the farm on.

1) Whoever wins tonight, will lose in 72 hours from now when they play Kansas. Yes, Bill Self gets off the snide this week. After that, it's anyone's guess.
2) You can pencil in a #1 seed to advance past the first round, that's not going to change ANY time soon.

Alright, so eliminating all of the useless numbers and what not that the paid "experts" [who really know no more than we do at this time of the year and it shows, just look at Clark Kellogg thinking four #1's were gonna be in the Final 4 last year] bog you down with making filling out a bracket seem damn near impossible. I'm simply gonna give you what I'm going off of and well, leave the rest up to the Basketball Gods.

#1 Is Done. - Only three teams have finished the season ranked #1 and ended the tournament that way. The last one to do so, were the Huskies in 2004 [I called that, probably the only time I've gone with the rest of the country and didn't kick myself for it.] and well, it won't happen again this year. I've had a nice look at Ohio State this year and I will say this upfront. Overrated State ain't that great. Hell, in a Big Bricklaying Ten conference, I'd honestly go as far to say that if Butch didn't get hurt...Wisconsin wouldn't have been blown to a 2 seed for this tourney. Greg Oden is much like another overrated Ohio baller, not that good. Having a first half like he had on Sunday will ensure that either Xavier/BYU or whatever team they meet in the Sweet 16 will send them packing. Oden's about as inconsistent as the weather and hasn't been consistent for most of the year. Hence why the Oden/Durant debate is laughable at best. OSU will be the first 1 seed sent packing and unless Oden's really pissy about it, he'll walk away from Columbus being a member of the biggest underachieving OSU team in school history.

Supersize The Champ/Pro-Rate Em'. Since 1979, every National Champion has had at least ONE McDonald's All-American on its team. The only one who didn't was Maryland in 2002. Alright, that might be a bit much for most of you to try and research, so here's a simpler one for all of you. Break down each perennial favorite in your head and ask yourself this one question. "Does this team have a guy I'm gonna be seeing in the NBA making major dollars in a year or two from now?" If the answer's no with no ifs, ands or buts about it, don't mess with em'.
Oh and just to make this a little easier for you, here's who MSNBC.com says to avoid like the plague among top teams. Memphis, Southern Illinois and Texas A&M.

Can't Win One? You're Done. No team that has failed to win a game in its conference tourney has won it all. This is proven FACT folk.
So for you Westwood junkies thinking Howland's gonna join Harrick and Wooden as the only coaches in school history to win a national title for UCLA, don't bother planning that parade and victory celebration at Pauley
Pavilion. Oh and Aggie junkies, just wait on college football season. Not gonna happen this year with the basketball team, although they're definitely on their way up.

Can't Go Wrong With A Baker's Dozen. Have One. This year, the
"Baker's Dozen" list reads like this. Old Dominion, Illinois, Arkansas and Long Beach State. Going back to 1989, at least ONE 12th seed has sent a 5th seed out of the club earlier than expected. Quick snapshot on each
of these teams reads like this. Arkansas went on a run through the SEC Championship tourney to save or at least prolong Stan Heath's job, but were blown out of the arena by the Gators on Sunday. They get USC which got punked out by Oregon one night earlier. LBSU won its conference tourney. Tennessee didn't win a game in its conference tourney, knocked silly by LSU. ODU was submarined by George Mason in its conference semifinal. So? George Mason made the Final Four last year, you'd say. I'd reply with, yeah, but so did LSU and look at where they are this year. ODU got smashed by 16. Then there's Illinois, which draws Schizophrenic Tech. Schizophrenic as in you don't know which team you're gonna get. Is it the squad that swept Carolina or got swept in 3 [including the conference tourney] by N.C. State? One of those 5 seeds will go home. Oh and in the last 8 years, five of those 12 seeds have gone onto the second weekend. So be ambitious and go wild.

Take Two For The Gators And Bruins? The last team to repeat as national champions were the Blue Devils in 1991 and 1992. The last team to return to the national title game after losing the year before were the Fab Five Wolverines in 1993. Florida and UCLA are on course for a possible Final Four and if any of you are historians like me, here's why you pick UCLA to win that one. The last time two teams from a national title game met in the Final Four the year after, it was Duke and UNLV. UNLV, which rolled Duke in 1990, was upset in 1991. Need I say more?

Oh yeah...one last thing for those of you seeking a "sleeper" team to ride to paydirt.

Meet Kevin Anthony. Kevin Durant is all but POTY for college basketball, unless they decide to screw him and hand the thing to Greg Oden, but I digress. Why am I going with Texas after they choked so royally against Kansas on Sunday? Simple. Durant reminds me of yet another highly touted Freshman that lead his team to a national title and there's a ton that's lining up for him the way it did for Carmelo in 2003. For starters, he's got a really good guard in Augustin who can shoot the rock. Nobody really sees this team coming and putting them in the same half of the bracket with UNC really helps them. But there's just something there, maybe it's the fact that nobody really expects them to do much, maybe it's the fact that much like Carmelo in 2003, I think KD's got it in him to put Texas on his back and carry them to the crown before he collects a mega payday as the top pick in June's draft. Either way, go Horns.