The 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, otherwise known as March Madness, begins this weekend with 48 games from Thursday through Sunday.

Look around you. The snow has disappeared into the damp ground. Jackets are being hung up and put away, necklines are plunging, shins and thighs see their first sunlight since October. Green buds are peeking their heads out of dormant branches, in preparation for warmer days. And all eyes are glued to a seemingly endless carousel of college basketball games for the next three weekends. You know you love this time of the year.

While I wouldn’t consider myself that much an astute bracketologist, I can offer some insight as to what would be beneficial to pay attention to in these insane days of buzzer-beaters and Cinderella’s. By the time this issue is printed and set upon the racks, an entire day of games will have already been played, so coming to me for all of your upset special picks isn’t much of an option.

You can be educated in the field, watch every talking head on ESPN or CBS spouting off their ‘expert opinion’ on upsets or number one seeds, but choosing teams in the tourney is sometimes more of a matter of luck than any kind of skill. Think of your mom picking teams based on how a team’s jerseys look and then beating you; some things are inexplicable.

If you picked Kentucky, well, just remember Calapari’s Memphis team from two years ago: Nasty point guard, dominant bigs on the inside and not a foul shooter in the bunch. As far as the number ones go, this could definitely be a year of a Final Four full of them. Duke and Syracuse have the leadership and the defense, Kansas has a starting lineup full of NBA talent and experience, and Kentucky, for a championship-ally flawed as they may be, are ungodly talented. So, where does that leave everyone else?

West Virginia and Ohio State are coming off impressive conference championship runs, and despite depending heavily on their star players (Da’Sean Butler and Evan Turner) they have the pieces in place to play their way into the Final Four. Georgetown seems to be a sexy pick, seeing that even the President has them making a run to the top four, but I am not completely sold.

Look for Cornell, San Diego State and Siena to try and slip their respective feet into a glass slipper, maybe even the gigantic one left by George Mason three years ago. And they are all dangerous enough to do so. Both BYU and Xavier have an outside shot to knock out a powerhouse in this tournament, maybe even make a run at the round of four, but would have to slay a considerable amount of dragons to get to that princess. Especially Xavier, who got the terrible luck of playing the Gophers in a first round match-up held in Milwaukee. Had they not found such a sentimental draw, I’d be picking them for the Sweet 16, no doubt.

While we will not have any idea who will pull away until the games are played, at least we know we’re in store for a plethora of dramatic entanglements and insanity not easily replicated in any other forum. And that is why we watch in the first place. Good luck with your bets. May Dickie V be with you!