Mine’s hooped.

I did all right in the first round of March Madness. Clemson didn’t get through, nor did South Alabama, my Cinderella No. 10 pick to reach the Sweet 16. But everything else went largely according to plan.

And then it didn’t. The Duke Blue Devils lost. The Georgetown Hoyas lost. The Pittsburgh Panthers lost. There are three Cinderella teams in the Sweet 16, and none of them is South Alabama. Grumble. Losing teams this early is death in a progressive bracket, where the points get bigger as the rounds progress.

And how’s your bracket doing? If you’re perfect so far in the  Bodog Fantasy game, you’re already three-fourths of the way to $1 million. Ah, but what strategy did you use? If you picked a lot of underdogs, you might be a little nervous right now for taking Villanova over Kansas. Then again, your bracket is perfect and mine looks like Bobby Knight threw a chair at it.

I’m thoroughly hopped up on first-round March Madness matchups. I need something to take the edge off – some simple predictions, swiped right off my Tournament bracket. Here’s who I have going to the Sweet 16.

EAST

No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Washington State
No. 3 Louisville vs. No. 10 South Alabama

MIDWEST

No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 5 Clemson
No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 2 Georgetown

SOUTH

No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 4 Pittsburgh
No. 3 Stanford vs. No. 2 Texas

WEST

No. 1 UCLA vs. No. 5 Drake
No. 3 Xavier vs. No. 2 Duke

There are only two picks I’m torn with here: I could have gone with No. 6 Marquette instead of Stanford, and No. 4 UConn instead of Drake. But the Golden Eagles might have their hands full with No. 11 Kentucky, and I think Drake has the upside over the Huskies with that heavenly 20-7-1 ATS record.

The higher the stakes, the bigger the drama. That’s why most college basketball fans are more interested right now in who’s on the Tournament bubble for March Madness, rather than who’s winning the conference tourneys.

Every once in a while, though, you get double the drama: A long shot wins a conference and gets an automatic berth in the big dance. The upset victim usually still gets an at-large bid, which leaves room for one fewer team on the bubble.

The San Diego Toreros are that long shot. Bill Grier’s boys have made the biggest splash thus far at Champ Week, bouncing the St. Mary’s Gaels (-5.5) and the Gonzaga Bulldogs (-7.5) to claim the West Coast crown.

Elsewhere, the Drake Bulldogs continued their magical campaign by winning the MVC title for the first time ever. Drake (20-7-1 ATS) and San Diego (21-9 ATS) are two of the four most profitable teams in Division I. Coincidence? I think not.

Arelia Margarita Taveras, 37, a once rising star of the New York legal community gambled away nearly $1 million USD. She now has lodged a $20 million lawsuit against 7 different casinos, claiming they had “a duty of care” to spot her compulsive behavior and intervene.

Beginning as a mode to relax Taveras soon found herself spending days at the tables. “They had a duty of care to me. Nobody in their right mind would gamble for four or five straight days without sleeping,” said the former lawyer, who once wrote a guide for women chasing ex-partners for child support.

According to her suit, she would play 7 hands of blackjack at once so she could have the entire table to herself, loosing money at $5000 an hour.

After loosing her apartment and her parents’ home, and being left owning nearly $60,000 in tax, Taveras said she contemplated suicide. She was disbarred last June after she admitted taking money from her client’s accounts. She has spent a year in clinics to treat her addiction and now works at a call center.

The size of your bankroll is definitely important to your success when playing blackjack. If you’ve ever played the game, you know that there are winning and losing streaks. If you have a desire to remain in the game and not go broke, having a bankroll big enough to survive the losing streaks is essential.

The Kelly Criterion is the method most gamblers use to gauge their bankroll size. It’s a bet-to-bankroll ratio system that tells you how big the bankroll should be to play at a certain level. The equation is too long to show here, so a rule of bringing 50 bets to the table for a three-hour session will hold you over until you learn the Kelly Criterion.

That’s only for one session. You should carry a bankroll of 300-400 bets and you should have it divided into sessions. And follow your win/loss limits every time.