It’s that time of year again, and I’m already starting to feel the effects. The brackets are out, the regions are set and every college basketball fan’s mind is now racing. There is a reason this season has become known as March Madness. It is absolute pandemonium. Between the upsets, buzzer beaters and Cinderella stories, the NCAA Tournament has become the most entertaining event in basketball and, quite frankly, in all of sports.

Before you start to fill out your brackets, here are some tips to keep in mind:

The most important rule to remember while putting together your bracket is that your “real” or “serious” bracket will always suck. That’s just the way the college basketball gods like to have it.

All the top teams are top teams for a reason and should make their way to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight or Final Four, right? False. There has only been one time in the history of the Tournament, when Kansas won the title in 2008, in which all the No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four. That said, there have only been two times in history in which no No. 1 seeds made the Final Four. Yeah, I’m confused, too.

Personally, I hate the top teams and will always cheer for the underdogs. Is that necessarily the smartest thing to do when filling out a bracket? No, but don’t count out some of the lower seeds or mid-majors. In the past two seasons, a No. 15 seed has upset a No. 2 seed three times. Some may remember Florida Gulf Coast and its magical run to the Sweet Sixteen last season as a 15 seed, but the thing is, there is a team like that every year.

That’s the tricky part of picking a bracket — who will be this year’s Cinderella? It’s easy to pick the top teams against inferior opponents, but picking the one team that will upset supposedly superior talent is the real challenge.

Remember, when picking a Cinderella team, look at experience. It is hard enough for a team with the most highly touted freshmen to make a deep run in the Tournament, but now imagine a mid-major team trying to do it. They need to have some experienced players and good coaching.

Another tip that may prove helpful is looking at the last 10 games of the regular season, including a team’s respective conference tournament. Teams that play well at the end of the season tend to carry that momentum into the tournament, which could ultimately lead to an upset or championship run.

Will any of these tips work? There’s a good chance everything I have told you will be extremely wrong and your bracket will be the worst in your pool. That’s the beauty of March Madness, though. Truthfully, no matter how dumb a bracket may look, everyone has a shot.

A few years back, I had a friend who knows nothing about basketball and picked the entire bracket solely based off the team’s colors. Her eventual champion was Florida, and guess who won the Championship that year? Yup, the Gators.

Whether you choose statistically, analytically or just by a team’s mascot, it truly does not matter. Fill out a bracket or two or 10, because chances are that no matter how smart you think you are, your bracket will still have a ton of red on it, and you will lose a lot of money.

g.adams@chronicle.utah.edu