If you're forecasting this year's NCAA tournament (you know, just for fun), you may want some standards that go beyond uniform colors or mascots.

We're as clueless as you are, so we asked the experts -- Bob Stoll, a handicapper and owner of Dr. Bob Sports and Brandon Lang, the picker Matthew McConaughey played in "Two for the Money." The 10 commandments they shared will help you bring home some extra bucks -- or at least some pride points -- with little analysis.

The key to a winning bracket is in the center -- the guy who gets the Final Four right usually wins, because those picks are worth the lion's share of bracket points. Concentrate your energy on the last weekend of the tournament, says Lang. Decide who you think will win the tournament -- and who you think they'll beat in the semis -- then blossom out from there. Once you've done that, you can have some fun with the less meaningful, first-round choices.

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UNC, Memphis, UCLA and Kansas top seeds for NCAA Tournament
2008-03-16 21:15:00

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - North Carolina, Memphis, UCLA and Kansas have been installed as the top seeds for the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels (32-2), who will play out of the East Region, were selected as the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament. UNC will ride an 11-game winning streak into the tourney following a victory over Clemson Sunday in the ACC Tournament title game.

The Tar Heels will play the winner of Tuesday's opening-round game in Dayton between Mount St. Mary's and Coppin State. UNC's first-round game will be Friday in Raleigh. Mount St. Mary's won the Northeast Conference, while Coppin State (16-20) has the lone losing record entering this year's tournament after capturing the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship.

Memphis (33-1), the Conference-USA regular season and tournament champions, is No. 1 in the South. The Tigers will take on Texas-Arlington, which captured the Southland tourney title on Sunday. Memphis' first-round game will be Friday in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

UCLA (31-3), the Pac-10 regular season and tourney champs, are No. 1 in the West. The Bruins, who have won their last 10 games, will play Mississippi Valley State, SWAC champions, on Thursday in Anaheim.

Kansas (31-3), which beat Texas Sunday to win the Big 12 tourney, is the top seed in the Midwest. The Jayhawks have a first-round game versus Portland State, Big Sky champions, on Thursday in Omaha.