UConn for the win.

But that doesn’t guarantee that it will win you your office pool.

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The Huskies are the class of the NCAA Tournament and have a great chance to pull off the first national championship repeat since Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators did it in 2007. Before that, it hadn’t happened since Grant Hill and Christian Laettner led Duke to a second straight, taking out the famed Michigan Fab Five in 1992.

I’m rolling with Danny Hurley and Co. because they have strengths that are conducive to a long tourney run. Plus, Hurley always includes his legendary high school coach of a dad on his bench.

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For someone who lost his dad while covering the 2016 Final Four in Houston, it just feels right to go with the Huskies this time around.

As for your soon to be bloody brackets, any yahoo with a black ink pen and half a brain can pick the the top overall seed to win the national title, but it will take some ingenuity and a nice amount of luck to earn those bragging rights in the break room.

Fill out your bracket at your own risk

Now, before you we go any further, be advised that your office pool is a crapshoot. If the bracket gods decide to make this your One Shining Moment, give thanks to them and Luther because it was just your time.

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I’m no expert on this — and for those who have been reading me for the last 25 years, you already knew that — but I can help simplify things as far as a winning formula for bracket madness is concerned.

To hopefully maximize your chances for success, you should follow these simple concepts:

Rule 1. Don't be a homer

If you really want to win your pool, you cannot afford to be that person that’s so into your home team that you forget the goal of this whole thing. Unless you attended school one of the schools that are high seeds, don’t fall into the trap.

That means you, Texas fan.

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Yes, the Horns are a good team and a fun watch, but if you’re expecting them to finish out the season in Phoenix, then you’re not using your brain. As much as I admire Rodney Terry and the job he has done since taking over for Chris Beard, the Horns have too many holes to be a realistic Final Four contender.

If they can figure out a way to get past the Virginia-Colorado State winner and set up a showdown with former Longhorns boss Rick Barnes and his No. 2-seeded Tennessee Volunteers, it’s a win in my book. An appearance in the Sweet 16 would be the frosting on the 2024 cake. To think beyond that point would require a glass slipper, a magic wand and some other lucky accessories.

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Again, we’re talking about brackets here, so I need you to take a deep breath and ask yourself which is more important: taking home those greenbacks or placing Texas in the Final Four just because that liquid pumping through your veins is burnt orange.

Rule 2: Find the right conference

In the times I’ve won office pools — and it’s happened only three times in 30 years, so consider the source — I’ve chosen a specific conference and loaded up on its teams to advance far into the tournament.

Be advised that this MO is a double-edged sword. If you hit on the correct league, you will be in the running to finish in the money on the final weekend, but if you’re wrong, you'll find yourself wondering if you should join your buddy’s Sweet 16 pool, which is basically the people who already crapped out in the first week and are searching for some new juice halfway through the tournament.

For instance, in one of the two pools I entered last season, I decided to go heavy on the five Big 12 teams — Kansas, Texas, Kansas State, Baylor and TCU.

Well, the conference finished a respectable 9-7 and Texas rewarded me with an Elite Eight. I finished near the top, but not enough to overcome a horrible first two rounds.

Meanwhile, the person who went hard on the five Big East schools won the pool going away. Not only did he have the national champion in UConn, a No. 4 seed winning it all with six straight wins, but he also had two other Big East teams — Creighton and Xavier — in his Sweet 16. The Bluejays did him one better, eliminating Princeton to join the Huskies in the Elite Eight.

If you’re feeling some Big 12 love, there are eight teams in the bracket, but the only one that really excites me is No. 2 Iowa State.

You will notice in my bracket that I have four of the eight SEC teams going to the Sweet Sixteen with No. 3 seed Kentucky beating No. 1 Houston in the South Region, in Dallas, no less.

Rule 3: Saddle up to a dark horse

Speaking of the Aztecs, they are a prime example of how hitting the right couple of teams to make a run can save you if one of your big dogs goes fishing earlier than expected. I still feel the pain of you Purdue Boilermakers fans who watched in horror as the No. 1 seed lost to No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson, five years after the Maryland-Baltimore County Retrievers made history for 16s everywhere.

I wouldn’t go scouring for a 16 to do any damage this season, but a slick No. 5 seed like sleeping giant Gonzaga, which would have a fighting chance against Purdue’s guards in the second round might be the ticket to a run to Phoenix in a year when the national pundits aren’t talking about Mark Few’s Zags as much.

Rule 4: Above all else, have fun

If you aren’t enjoying March Madness, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s the one event in America that has never failed us. We’ve seen bad Super Bowls and NBA Finals that were a sure cure for insomnia, but never have we witnessed three weeks of bad college basketball.

The field may be a little top-heavy, but the magic will find its away to the surface, usually when you least expect it.

It’s supposed to be fun and it’s never a bad thing to have a little vested interest to go along with one’s rooting interest.

You can’t put a price tag on bragging rights and it’s even sweeter if there are a couple of dollars attached.

Enjoy the trash talk, enjoy the bracketology and most important, cherish the Madness.

What a great time of year.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: UConn will win it again but can your bracket say the same?