Get Ready To Be The Envy Of The Office, Mac Ten Keys To Winning The Office Pool, But Only If You Can Handle Stardom

What do they call you around the office? “Mac”? “Hey, you”? “The temporary”? Ten years of obedient labor and this is the respect you get?

Well, your days of anonymity are almost over. Three weeks from tonight, you’ll be the toast of the company cafeteria, the envy of the executive wing. The security guards might even recognize you without the ID badge. It will be time to pick out a new nickname. How does “The Greek” sound? Or “Professor”? Or, simply, “Hoops”?

All you have to do is win the NCAA basketball tournament pool. Every office has one, and the truth is that anybody can win it with a little effort or a lot of luck or both.

There are simple ones: Pick a number out of a hat, choose a team when it’s your turn. If your team wins it all, you cash in.

There are extremely simple ones: Pick a team out of a hat. Period.

There are ones that require you to sit down with a pencil and a tournament bracket sheet and try to pick the winners of all 63 games. If you accumulate the most points - earning one point for each correct first-round selection, two points for the second round, four for the Sweet 16, eight for the regional finals, 16 for the Final Four and 32 for the final - you’re the new heartthrob of the secretarial pool.

It is this type of pool - the tournament bracket, not the secretarial - we have in mind when we offer the following 10 tips:

1. Know the odds.

In the 11 years since the tournament adopted its current 64-team format, more than 70 percent of the games have been won by the higher-seeded team, six championships have gone to No. 1 seeds and two others to No. 2s, and No. 1 seeds are 44-0 in first-round games while No. 2s are 44-2.

Keep all that in mind before you pick a bracket full of upsets. One place where upsets are not surprising: First-round games between No. 8 and 9 seeds; No. 9 has won 25 of the 44 meetings.

2. Work as hard on picking a surprise loser as a surprise winner. Almost every year, the No. 1 seed in one of the four regions bombs out of the tournament in an early round. If you identify that team beforehand, you’ll have a critical edge over your rivals.

3. Make a conference call.

In 1995, teams from the Atlantic Coast and Southeastern conferences won 22 games and lost eight in the tournament. Meanwhile, teams from the Big Ten were a combined 1-5.

Figuring out which conferences are strongest, or whose schedules have most effectively seasoned their members, can help you pick a lot of winners and avoid losers.

4. Remember: Good regular-season teams don’t automatically make good tournament teams. A couple of obvious things to look for: teams with plenty of juniors and seniors who might better withstand the playoff pressure; and teams that are entering the tournament in top form, conference tournament winners, for instance.

Less obvious: Stay away from “one-man teams” that flounder when their stars have off nights. Bank on teams with efficient half-court offenses and tight defenses to unsettle flashier run-and-gun opponents. Favor teams with impressive records in road games.

5. Realize that teams forced to play early round games far from their campuses face a handicap. It’s illustrated by this statistic from the past 11 tournaments: Twenty-three No. 1 and 2 seeds were shipped out of their territories. Only four of those advanced further than their seedings would have suggested (a No. 1, by advancing to the national final, and a No. 2, by winning its regional). Six went exactly as far as expected. Thirteen were KO’d earlier than expected.

6. Pay attention to matchups.

A team that can’t match its opponent’s big center, or has nobody to keep up with a quick point guard, is ripe for an upset.

7. Be suspicious of hometown favorites.

Gamblers (like you, Greek) know that the most valuable opinions are a.) correct and b.) not held by everybody else. Everybody in the office is going to pick the local school. Be willing to take an unpopular stand and be the only one to benefit.

8. Trust your instincts. They provide the only insights you can be sure nobody shares.

9. Know your sources.

The best place to dig up statistics and trends from past tournaments is an annual called “NCAA Final Four,” published by Triumph Books of Chicago for the NCAA.

10. Play!

If you haven’t the time or patience for actual analysis, throw a dollar in the pool anyway. You’re going to have to listen to your co-workers talk about how their teams are doing, so you might as well know what they’re droning on about. Besides, if you win just because you’re lucky, nobody has to know.