Printable NCAA Tournament Bracket 2018: Downloadable Sheet, Tips for Best Picks

The 68-team field for the 2018 NCAA men's tournament is finally set, and a number of college basketball fans will have wasted little time filling out their brackets.

The full bracket can be viewed below, with a printable version available on NCAA.com:

There's plenty of accepted wisdom when it comes to the NCAA tournament.

At least one No. 12 seed is going to upset a No. 5 seed. Avoid putting every No. 1 seed through to the Final Four—something that hasn't happened since 2008. Don't predict a first-round upset for any team seeded third or higher.

Along with the obvious advice, consider the three points below when sitting down and completing your NCAA tournament bracket.

Ignore Villanova's Upset a Year Ago

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Villanova had high expectations heading into the 2017 tournament. The Wildcats were the defending national champions and the No. 1 overall seed. Villanova proceeded to lose to eighth-seeded Wisconsin in the second round, the team's third round-of-32 exit in four years.

Because of that, some may hesitate to peg the Wildcats for a deep tourney run this March.

Recent history provides a strong baseline for the No. 1 overall seed. In the last 10 years, only twice did the top team fail to reach the Sweet 16—Villanova in 2017 and Kansas in 2010. Seven of the 10 reached the Elite Eight, and five advanced to the national semifinals.

The need to avoid too much predictability with your bracket is understandable. Upsets are what makes the NCAA tournament so much fun, and predicting the right upsets can be the difference in winning your pool.

But go ahead and put Virginia through to the Sweet 16. Anything beyond that is up to you.

Identify at Least One Realistic Surprise for the Final Four

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Generally speaking, you shouldn't get too clever when it comes to mapping out your Final Four, but don't be afraid to go out on a limb. For five straight years, at least one team seeded seventh or lower has gone on to reach the national semifinals.

Of course, some context is required for that stat. The list includes Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse and Connecticut—all programs with lengthy track records in March. It's hard to call those teams underdogs, regardless of what their tournament seeding was.

Still, seeing those teams—with the exception of Kentucky—reach the Final Four was a surprise.

Nobody expects the Radford Highlanders to book a trip to San Antonio, Texas, but the chances are at least one program will buck the odds and make a Final Four run—likely one with a proven, experienced head coach.

The sixth-seeded Florida Gators would be a solid bet. Head coach Mike White doesn't have a wealth of experience in the NCAA tournament, but he helped Florida reach the Elite Eight a year ago.

The TCU Horned Frogs could be another option, with Jamie Dixon one of the better coaches yet to reach a Final Four.

Don't Put Too Much Stock in the Conference Tournament Results

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As another rule when identifying your Final Four favorites, don't let the results of the conference tournaments impact your judgment too much. In the last five years, six conference tourney champions went on to reach the Final Four, which isn't an overwhelming number. Of that group, only one—Louisville in 2013—won a national championship.

Basically, if you really like a team's chances of making a deep run in the NCAA tournament, then don't be swayed too much by their poor performance in a conference tournament.

Along the same lines, don't go overboard in thinking momentum gained in the conference tournament will carry over to the Big Dance, especially for teams that otherwise would've been on the bubble or out of the NCAA tournament picture altogether.

A hot four- or five-game stretch doesn't completely negate a team's performance over the entire regular season.