NCAA Tournament 2012: Last-Second Advice That Guarantees Bracket Glory

It's too late to call in sick for tomorrow's NCAA tournament start, but you still have time to put one last tweak to the all-important bracket. 

Office pools and tournament challenges abound, and just about every last person with a pulse is a part of it all. 

Again, you have no time to fake an illness. You are better off calling in deceased at this point, you sorry sap. The smart ones took vacation days or were coughing from Monday until early this morning. 

That leaves watching from your cubicles and poring over your brackets as the last things you can do from now until the end of March. 

Here is a last-second guide to filling out the most important piece of paper ever, or at least from now until tomorrow afternoon. 

Handful of Upsets

Leave the upsets to a handful or you will get a fistful of hurt. You are usually good going with 50 percent of the No. 12 seeds to take the first round. 

After that, keep the upsets to a minimum, because they are not as rampant as you think. The Nos. 1-3 seeds should all move to the next round after Thursday and Friday, and that is the first thing you should make sure of. 

Kentucky

This brings me to the greatest team of 2012 in both talent and hype. Here is the thing, Kentucky will get a ton of love as the all-out winner or finalist in just about every bracket. 

There is good reason for it too, because they are just better than everybody. This doesn't guarantee a title, but it does mean they will feature in the Final Four, so get them there.  

If you want to get cute after that, by all means. 

Syracuse 

There is no bigger story heading into the big dance. 

Fab Melo is ineligible which means Syracuse will have to become a pressing team that relies on their guards on both ends of the court. 

Yes, the East is shallow, but the Orange are a much different team without Melo, and far less dominant. Get them out of the Final Four, because they will not sniff it this year. 

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