Tips on Winning the NCAA Office Pool

(CANVAS STAFF REPORTS) - March Madness is ready to roll and millions of Americans are ready to wager on which of the top 65 teams will win this year's National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament.

As fans are filling out brackets and engaging in office pools, media outlets are following suit by sharing their tips.

USA Today's Tim Gardner, who has managed USA Today's online men's basketball coverage for the last five years, is picking the University of Kentucky has his winner. While USA Today sportswriter Eddie Timanus chooses number one seeded Kansas Jayhawks.

Kentucky has won seven national titles, only behind UCLA with 11 titles. While the Indiana Hoosiers have won five title, followed by the University of North Carolina Tar Heels with four.

According to Chiff.com , No. 1 seeds have won every time in the first round in the past 16 years and No. 2 seeds have only lost three first-round games.

New York Daily News sportswriter Ian Powers suggests picking winners is "based on knowledge and tournament wisdom, using some basic statistics and following hunches."

He suggests placing the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the second round and then moving the No. 1 seeds to the third round.

Powers said that odds are at least one of the second-seed teams will fall in the second round as No. 2s are 64-32 in second round games. Number 3 teams are 52-33 though six seeds are 35-31, which leads him to suggest placing your favorite six-seed in the top 16.

A CBS News business story offers some different advice. Tune out the "talking heads" who suggest how to win. Mathematicians and game theorists who study tournament results suggest some other methods.

Fill in No. 1 seeds to win in the first round because, since the tournament expanded 25 years ago, no No. 1 seed has lost to a 16th-seed team.

Then check out Vegas odds to pick remaining first-round favorites. Games between 8 and 9 seeds and 7-10 seeds are usually pretty close so keep them blank for now.

Then, according to CBS News, pick a champion. Mathematicians say to pick either the third- or fourth-ranked No. 1 seed or the first-or second-ranked No. 2 seed. Everyone else will bet on the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, and often no team is dominant enough to be a sure thing.

There are online tools, including a calculator at Poologic.com . It also helps to know which teams are rivals.

Also if you are looking for NCAA Basketball Tournament 2010 Predictions , check out these Final Four picks, sleeper picks and teams to avoid.

If you're looking for help filling out your brackets, try this NCAA Tournament interactive forecasting tool . Just don't tell your friends you cheated.