BY RONNIE GALLAGHER
SALISBURY POST

It's tournament time, baby! March Madness! Hoop Heaven!

Which means you'll need some help filling out those brackets for the office pool.

So forget the wisdom of Billy P and Dickie V. And while you're at it, you can forget Mr. T, Sandra Dee and Bobby Vee.

And listen to me, Ronnie G.

The first lesson you must learn while deciding the winners is this: Don't take it too seriously. Have fun with it. We know from past experiences that there will be some upsets. It's our job to guess who will be doing the upsetting.

Let's get to it.

The East

Well, we all know who will win this regional: Duke.

But just for the sake of being Devil's advocate (get it?) we'll go through with it.

Duke half-heartedly beats Florida A&M by 48 (Virginia lost to the Devils by 46 and the Cavs are better than Florida A&M, right?) and meets Tulsa, which is too much for little College of Charleston.

Wisconsin and Temple take care of Southwest Missouri State and Kent while Cincinnati has no problem with George Mason, whoever he is. Purdue is an underdog to Texas until they play and the Boilermakers win by three. Miami (Fla.) runs past Lafayette. I enjoyed watching Lafayette win its tournament as much as anyone so it became my personal favorite. But alas, the Leopards do down in a heap.

Duke whips Wisconsin by 21 while Cincinnati edges Purdue by two. In the rematch everyone wants to see, Duke thrashes the Bearcats 81-62.

The Midwest

Michigan State and Ole Miss win to create a second-round matchup. Rhode Island ends UNC Charlotte's bid and Arizona beats Oklahoma. Kansas and Kentucky set up their showdown with wins while Miami (Ohio) upsets Washington and Utah has no problem with Arkansas State.

It's Michigan State over Ole Miss, Arizona over Rhode Island and Utah over Miami. Which leads us to Kansas vs. Kentucky.

Let me tell you people something. Remember all those years when Kansas was a heavy favorite to make the Final Four but always fell short? This year, no one is giving Kansas a chance. That's why the Jayhawks will beat Kentucky and mo ve on to face Arizona. Roy Williams' team will be favored in that one, which means they'll lose. Which means Arizona gets the chance to be fodder for Duke, which beats Lute and the Wildcats 90-76 and march toward St. Petersburg.

The South

Top seed Auburn wins as expected and meets Oklahoma State, which beats Syracuse. UCLA edges a good Detroit team by two and Ohio State has no trouble with Murray State. No. 11 George Washington beats No. 6 (and overrated) Indiana, prompting Bobby Knight to curse a little - at his players, at the media, at his dog...

St. John's, Louisville and Maryland all win their first-round games.

Oklahoma State then becomes the tournament darlings, upsetting Auburn. Ohio State beats UCLA, St. John's ends George Washington's season and Maryland takes care of erratic Louisville. Wasn't Louisville on probation when the year began?

That leaves Oklahoma State-Ohio State and St. John's-Maryland. Oklahoma State, which plays in a place called Gallagher-Iba Arena (I wonder if I'm kin to that Gallagher guy?) becomes the newest darlings of March Madness.

That is, until they lose to athletic Maryland, who takes Gary Williams to the Big Dance.

The West

UConn and Missouri both win first-round games, as does Iowa, which is 10-0 in NCAA openers under Tom Davis. Arkansas beats Siena. Stanford takes care of Minnesota.

No. 11 Pennsylvania upsets No. 6 Florida setting up a clash with North Carolina, which defeats Weber State. Penn's best player, by the way, is a guy named Michael Jordan, and yes, he wears No. 23.

Davis' coaching career at Iowa ends in a loss to UConn. and Stanford proves it is not Duke by losing to North Carolina for the second time this season.

North Carolina is now facing the prospects of two rematches - its East Regional win over UConn last year and, with a win, a chance to redeem itself in the Final Four.

Ain't gonna happen. UConn nips North Carolina 89-87. Vasco Evtimov tied the score with 10 seconds left by hitting a layup (say what?) but that gives Richard Hamilton a chance to win it at the buzzer - which he does.

The Final Four

This will be short and sweet.

Duke by 23 over Arizona. America avoids an All-ACC showdown for the title as UConn beats Maryland by 10.

In the finals, we have the only two teams who were No. 1 in the polls this season. Duke was in first for the last half of the season and the Blue Devils stay there. They romp 82-67.

Wasn't that easy?