CLICK AND DOUBLE CLICK: INTERNET GIVES INSIGHT INTO MARCH MADNESS

First a confession: I'm not a big basketball fan, especially when it comes to the NBA.

But come the middle of March, I succumb to a kind of madness and find myself analyzing college basketball teams I've never heard of to enter the office pool.

Not only is it the big topic of conversation around the office, but my husband of 20 years is consumed by it. Of course, he's a yearround sports fan. I must admit he's pretty good at U.S. geography because of his knowledge of these college teams. The fact that Southeast Missouri State University Indians are in the "dance" for the first time makes it all the more exciting.

There are a number of NCAA basketball sites on the Internet that could give you an edge with your office pool.

www.finalfour.net

This is the official Web site of the NCAA basketball championships. The seeds are planted, and this site observes that old favorites top the field of 64.

One of the features that might be helpful are capsules on all 64 teams and starting times in the East, Midwest, West and South regionals. Texas and Indiana State start out the West tournament at 11:40 a.m. Southeast's game will start 30 minutes following the end of that game, which will probably be between 2:10 and 2:30 our time.

If Southeast was to win in the first round, they'd play again at 2:20 p.m. Saturday.

The capsules are listed by regionals, from first seed to 16th. It lists such information as strengths, weaknesses, notes and outlook. You can also link over to the team's home page from here.

You can also learn more about the sites for the regional tournaments, along with city-by-city guides.

And if you're really a stickler, you can read the NCAA "principles and procedures for establishing the 64-team bracket."

www.cbs.com

CBS is airing the "March Mayhem." You can click off to the section from the front. Look for the electrified basketball.

One of my colleagues looks more at a team's last few games than season record to make his picks. If that's true, you can check out the qualifying team's clinching games at this site.

You can also find a printable bracket. The finals will be in Indianapolis April 3.

If you don't have time during the tournament to watch every game, you can sign up for a free March Mayhem newsletter to bring you the latest news and coverage.

You can also taken an opinion poll or test your tournament IQ with a trivia challenge.

There's also a lot of information here, with links to team pages, regional and matchup breakdowns and tournament history. Did you know the very first national championships game was in 1939?

www.marchjam.com

The folks at Rivals.com have brought you a site that bills itself as "your complete guide to the college hoops championships." One of the interesting aspects is the links to the official NCAA team sites for stories and in-house observations.

It also features a link to the first official fan ballot for college basketball's top honor. It will allow fans to vote on who they think will win the John R. Wooden Award as the college basketball player of the year. Results of the fan poll will be announced April 7.

You can also register for the "world's ultimate office pool" with a prize of $10 million. It's free to enter, and the link is on the bottom of the front page. The site also offers real-time standings, news, chat rooms and bulletin boards.

espn.go.com/ncb/index.html

ESPN has lots of good information can that help you in your own predictions, broken down by the regionals. You can watch video clips, chat with experts and or compare notes with other amateur predictors on the message boards.

One interesting story on the site is called "Cinderellas, sleepers and teams to watch." It outlines many of the potential upsets that ESPN experts are predicting in the first round. Interestingly enough, Duke may be No. 1 in the polls, but the folks at ESPN favor Michigan State to grab the glory.

They list the five sleepers to watch: Fresno State, Arkansas, Pepperdine, Dayton and Butler and the teams, and the teams in trouble.

They also pointed out that double-digit seeds have made the Sweet 16 the past four years. That's good news for the underdogs.

There's also a free tournament challenge, but you do have to register to play. You can read interesting insight from last year's winner. By the way, he likes Duke, DePaul, Illinois and Oklahoma.

CNNSI.com

Sports Illustrated and CNN bring a comprehensive site on the NCAA tournament, packed with plenty of information. You can visit game previews, Q&A, statistics, reaction and much more. There's also live chat most days on NCAA hoops.

If your brackets aren't printed out yet, you can get printable brackets for men and women for either PC or MAC and even daily updates.

They, too, link over to the $10 million hoops bracket challenge. On-line entry ends Thursday.

There's lots of stories including one on LSU, which celebrates its first tourney bid since 1993. They're the team Southeast will face Thursday.

www2.hoopstv.com

"If basketball is your religion, this is your church" boasts a site called HoopsTV.com.

You can check out the 2000 tournament coverage and other insight into the brackets. There's a complicated remote control that would probably be perfect for the real addicts.

A word of advice: Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle says illegal gambling constitutes a Class C misdemeanor with a penalty of 1 to 15 days in the county jail and a fine up to $300. He's never had a complaint about office pools, but would investigate if one were made.

In other words, office pools could be a danger in more ways than one.

See you in Cyberspace (and hopefully not the county jail).

Joni Adams is managing editor of the Southeast Missourian. You can e-mail her at click@semissourian.com.