Printable NCAA Tournament Bracket: Complete Office-Pool Guide and Winning Advice

Analyzing the ins and outs of every 2015 NCAA tournament matchup can make your head spin, but noticing important trends that crop up during March Madness can be the difference between winning and losing.

It doesn't take extensive research to build a solid bracket, but knowing what has unfolded in recent tournaments and where the likeliest slip-ups can occur is helpful. While upsets come out of nowhere each season and may be impossible to predict, certain seeds have a better chance of coming to fruition than others.

Take a look below for some general do's and don'ts of filling out your bracket.

All Your Bracket Essentials

• Download the Printable Bracket
• Play the Free Bracket Challenge

Office-Pool Tips

Easy on the No. 1 Seeds

It's all too easy to go with three or more No. 1 seeds when filling out your bracket, but getting from the top row to the Final Four has been easier said than done in recent years.

Since the 2008 tournament, when all four regional winners were No. 1 seeds, only six of a possible 24 Final Four teams have been top seeds. More teams (seven) seeded fifth or worse have won their regions in that span.

Unbeaten Kentucky is far from a shoo-in, as it hails from arguably the bracket's toughest region. Second-seeded Arizona could give Wisconsin fits, and both Villanova and Duke have tough roads ahead. But with higher seeds crashing the party so often in the last six years, at least one or two of them are bound to fall.

To the Play-In Winners Go the Spoils

USA TODAY Sports

Ever since the play-in round—or the first round, as it's now called—was created, conventional wisdom suggested the more rested team would have the advantage. That hasn't exactly played out.

Of the eight teams that have played in Dayton's play-in games each season over the last four years, at least one team has gone on to win its next game each year. In fact, one has advanced to the Sweet 16 in the last three tournaments.

Every team is fresh at this point and knows its season is on the line, so having that extra game to get its feet wet is often more of a boost than a disadvantage—if you win, that is. On top of that, the No. 11 seeds playing in Dayton were all on the bubble and have been playing do-or-die games for weeks.

The No. 5-No. 12 Matchup

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Here's the worst-kept secret in NCAA bracket-building: The No. 5-No. 12 matchups are where the money is. 

What was becoming a growing trend in the NCAA tournament gained more momentum last year. The tournament used to be good for one or two upsets by No. 12 seeds each year, but in 2013-14, it would have been a clean sweep had N.C. State not allowed St. Louis to mount a late comeback.

This season, there is more potential for madness, with Wofford facing an Arkansas team that struggles with consistency and Stephen F. Austin facing the fifth-seeded Utah Utes, who ended the season 3-4. 

Start doing your research with the No. 12-No. 5 matchups. They have been a hot bed for upsets, and 2015 figures to be no different.