Power Schools

• When it comes to picking an overall champion, its best to keep the power schools in mind. Schools like North Carolina, Duke, Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan State, Arizona and UCLA tend to have the most talent and usually emerge as the champion. It's great to pick upsets along the way to the title game, but when it comes to winning the national championship, it's best to pick the most talented teams.
  
  

Seedings

• There are four regional tournaments within the NCAA tournament. In each regional, teams are seeded 1 through 16. In the first round, the No. 1 seed plays No. 16, No. 2 plays No. 15, No. 3 plays No. 14, and so on down the line. Do not pick a No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed: Not only are the No. 1 seeds the strongest teams, but such an upset has never happened in the history of the NCAA tournament, as of 2009. If you are looking for an upset in the first round, always look at the game involving the No. 5 seeds and the No. 12 seeds. While the No. 5 team would seemingly be stronger, the 12th-seeded teams have historically done well over the years and come up with many upsets.
  
  

Hot teams

• If you are looking for teams that can get hot in the NCAA tournament and win several rounds, don't look at the overall record. Instead, look at how the team performed in the final month of the regular season and its conference tournament. For example a team might have finished with a 10-8 record in its conference, but it was 7-1 in its final eight games and got to the finals of its conference tournament. This is the kind of team to look out for in the NCAA tournament.