Building The Winning March Madness Bracket
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Teams are in place, brackets are set, now comes the hard part.
Picking the team that goes all the way in the NCAA Tournament. And with upsets a guarantee, picking well is harder than it appears.
"Upsets are like the main thing that makes this tournament great because, you know, no one expects them to win," said March Madness fan Robbie Hernandez.
This time of year, everyone seems to be getting in on the March Madness past time: bracketology.
"It's fun just to see how far you get in the bracket, like, how good your bracket is and everything," added another fan.
"College basketball is weird this year because there isn't a great team," CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm said.
Back in the '90s, Palm was the first guy in the country to reveal how the NCAA stacks teams for the Big Dance.
And now, he's the "Bracket Guy."
He says this year is harder than most, with no strong front-runners as the ultimate winner.
"This year you've got eight, nine maybe 10 teams that you could legitimately make a case that they could win it," he said.
Palm has Duke winning it all.
He added that Rhode Island and Middle Tennessee could be sleeper teams and to watch out for them.
"I also look for teams that I just think are under-seeded -- like Wisconsin is an 8, probably should be higher," Palm said. "No matter what level you play, knowing how to win, knowing how to finish off a game in crunch time and things like that, translates to whoever you play."
So for any March Madness participants -- the bottom line? Look for teams with experience not only in the tournament but also on the bench, regardless of seed or record.
If you'd like to see how you stack up against CBS 2, fill out a bracket to compete in our Bracket Challenge and go against VIPs such as Steve Baskerville and Ryan Baker.
