Hello, class, and welcome to How to Kick Tail in the NCAA Tourney, or for those with financial stakes, How to Make Big Bucks in NCAA Tourney Pools.

This is the time of year when everybody wants an edge in picking advancing teams. To find it, we spared no expense other than travel and bribery. We went straight to the coaching sources and found that, as with so many things in life, there is no one definitive answer to successful postseason play.

First, you need good players, but if you don’t have that, you won’t be in the 65-team field. After that, you have to know the keys to winning, and it starts with guards. By that reasoning, the teams with the best guards do the best.

“It’s always been good guard play,” Illinois coach Bruce Weber says, “because they control the tempo of the game.”

That’s fine, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says, but it’s so much more than that.

“I still think leadership is a big key, and so is taking care of the ball, because in the postseason each possession becomes more valuable.”

Leadership becomes especially important in March, because successful teams are on the road a lot.

“A lot of games are won in hotels and in meeting rooms,” Izzo says. “In one-and-done time, you have to have people understand what’s expected, and that’s where leadership is so important. Just saying, ‘My bad’ when you make a mistake isn’t good enough.”

When you run a swing offense like Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan does, where everybody touches the ball on the perimeter and in the post, balance is big.

“I know coaches always talk about guard play,” Ryan says, “but you can have a forward get hot. A center can get hot.

“I always think it’s important to take care of the ball and make sure the team takes good shots.”

And then there’s that old standby of making shots. The more you make, the better your chances.

“It sounds simple,” Weber says, “but when you make baskets, you spread the defense and open up the floor. That allows the big guys to get easy baskets.”

Beyond that, Weber adds, you need experience to handle pressure moments and a go-to player who delivers in the clutch.

“That’s so important,” he says, “because you will have a close game or two, and if you have a go-to player who can make a play when everything else is dead, that’s a big advantage.”

Then there’s Indiana interim coach Dan Dakich, who isn’t worried about general keys because he’s too busy finding specific ones to get these Hoosiers past the NCAA tourney’s first weekend, something that hasn’t happened since 2002.

“I’ve always thought in watching it and playing in it and coaching in it that your team needs to play well,” he says. “What does that mean? We’ve got to shoot better. There’s no question about that. We’ve got to get positive contribution off the bench. We need a third scorer and D.J. (D.J. White) and E.J. Eric Gordon.

“For us, it means shoot well, stay with our defense and get positive contributions from everywhere.”

So when filling your brackets, look for good shooting and defending teams with veteran leadership and good guards that can handle adversity when it comes.

Class dismissed.

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