Aside from No. 12 seed McNeese beating No. 5 Clemson on Thursday, the first day of the NCAA Tournament was devoid of the huge upsets we have grown accustomed to in recent memory. While that meant our two picks from Thursday (Wisconsin and Purdue) helped us advance in our survivor pools easily,

By bypassing the Blue Devils for the title, you can differentiate your entry. Duke’s prowess has made it the most popular title pick in ESPN’s bracket contest ( 25 percent of entries as of Tuesday) as well as CBS’s. Not going with Duke to win is a smart pool strategy Mock outlines here — while still collecting points by riding Duke to the finals.