Shawn Jansen: Tournament time again for coaches

Productivity at offices across the country will see a steep decline during the next three weeks.

A sudden case of March Madness will infect the nation, turning non-sports fans into temporary basketball junkies.

Office pools have helped make the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament into one of the biggest fan participation sporting events in the country.

Count us in.

Once again, we've asked our local basketball coaches to fill out their NCAA brackets and compete against the sports staff.

It's the eighth year we've done our pool.

There is no money involved.

Just bragging rights and right now, those rights belong to Golden Valley coach Keith Hunter, who won last year's contest.

How did Hunter manage to win?

"It was my superior ability," he said. "My strategy is to pick the Final Four, pick the finals and then work backwards.

"Last year was an easy pick -- North Carolina over Michigan State."

Apparently, the easy pick this year is Kansas and Kentucky.

Almost every bracket turned in has one of those two teams cutting down the nets in the championship game.

For me, there was nothing easy about filling out my bracket.

It took me three drafts to finally come up with a bracket I liked. And I don't feel the least bit confident in the third one.

I just don't have the stamina to sort through the 64 teams again.

I finally decided to stick with a strategy and go away from the pack.

Somehow I have Syracuse winning it all.

I know, it surprised me, too.

I'm not a Syracuse fan.

I know Arinze Onuaku is hurt.

And here's the crazy part, I don't even think Syracuse is the best team in the country.

So what am I thinking?

Well, with almost everybody picking Kansas and Kentucky, you have a lot of competition if you go with one of the two heavy favorites.

You can fall behind in the first weekend of the tournament and be knocked out.

Secondly, Kansas is in a loaded Midwest Region with Michigan State, Maryland, Ohio State and Georgetown.

Any one of those teams could make a Final Four run, so Kansas is going to be challenged just getting out of its region.

Meanwhile, Syracuse is in a soft West Region, where the men in orange have a much easier path to Indianapolis.

So, Syracuse it is.

The added bonus of picking Syracuse is I could have fun picking a few more upsets early on.

Upsets can be addicting. There really should be a March Madness support group for obsessive upset predictors.

Picking that No. 13 seed to beat the No. 4 is like eating that extra piece of cheesecake.

It's just a dangerous temptation.

"You have to be careful," said former Atwater coach John Kane, who finished second to Hunter last year. "I usually don't go to crazy until the second or third round."

Hunter has found himself on the wrong end of an upset binge once or twice.

"I finished dead last a few years ago by picking all upsets," Hunter said. "I hit a few, but is it really worth that extra point. If you don't hit, you're left with some blank lines in the final rounds."

If you can't stay away from picking the upsets, here's a few that might pan out.

As a San Diego State alum, I'm obligated to pick the Aztecs over Tennessee. Folks, it's going to happen.

The University of Texas-El Paso is a popular pick as a No. 12 seed over No. 5 Butler.

Siena has a good shot to knock off a No. 4 in Purdue.

As for some surprising teams with staying power, look for Washington and BYU to reach the Sweet 16.

When the madness finally ends, hopefully my third bracket will be the charm.

Shawn Jansen is a Sun-Star sports reporter. He can be reached at 385-2462 or via e-mail at sjansen@mercedsun-star.com.