Your Basketball Savvy May Win ThousandsIn Online Contest (NAPSA)—Few things are as challenging as picking winners in the NCAA tournament. In fact, of the thousands of people to submit an online bracket in Yahoo! Sports’ free Tourney Pick’Em game last year, none did better than a guinea pig named Buttons. It’s true. The rodent’s improbable selections, which included a perfect West Region and Duke beating Butler in the championship game, earned her owner the $10,000 grand prize and proved you don’t need to know college basketball to Last year, Buttons the guinea pig cash in on the tournament. guessed the college basketball college basketball,” said Angela Sun, who will be providing daily the top picker may be you. from the die-hard fan to the office known somebody who roots for “That’s what’s great about championship winner. This year, updates on the tournament on the Yahoo! Sports Minute. “Anyone— good time (responsibly, of course). mate picking games at random— can end up a winner.” So before you study box scores or seek expert opinions, consider teams based on uniforms. Channel that person. Then, choose each pairing based on which color combination you think looks best. Warning: Threeof last year’s four No. 1 seeds had some combination of blue and white. some of these creative waystofill out your bracket and perhaps win some moneyto pay those postholidaybills: Academic reputation: Con- sult the latest university rankings and choose the team in each pairing whose school has the better overall academic standing. Just don’t be surprised if your Final Fourincludes a team from the Ivy League. Mascotfight: Have you ever wondered who would win if a Badger fought a Blue Devil? Perhaps not, but that’s beside the point. Use your imagination. Then, pick the mascot in each pairing you think would prevail. Party-school rankings: Rowdy student sections are part of what makes college basketball so much fun. Grab the latest party-school rankings and pick the team in each pairing whose students best know how to have a School colors: We’ve all Coin flip: Surrender your bracket to chance. Flip a coin to determine each game. Hey, at least you'll have a 50-50 chance in the first round. Height: Test a tall theory. Pull rosters and rank teams by cumulative height. Then, pick the tallest team in each pairing. Hint: Last year’s champion, Duke, stretched 91 feet, 5 inches. Of course, you can always resort to more traditional methods. What- ever you decide, have fun. Yahoo! Sports makesit easy to fill out your bracket. Simply visit tournament. fantasysports.yahoo.com/tl and sign up for the free Tourney Pick’"Em game to get started; you'll automatically be entered to win the grandprize. Who knows? You might even beat Buttons.
