By now you've been studying the brackets for hours. Perhaps more importantly, you've been fielding calls in hushed tones and having secretive conversations at the water cooler about your NCAA Tournament picks.

Your opportunity to impress your co-workers, your friends, your boss and -- yes -- your significant other has never been greater. So why would you head into these conversations with anything less than the most current conventional wisdom?

Check out the list below for who and what is hot, and what's not cool to spout off about. Your ability to be out front on this will cement your celebrity status within the office, at the bar and in the home for the rest of the year.

What's Hot, What's Not: The 2002 NCAA Tournament
Category	Hot	Not
Directional school	Southern Illinois	Central Connecticut State
Premature MOP favorite	Steve Blake	Casey Jacobsen
This year's Gonzaga	Illinois-Chicago	Gonzaga
Fan	Ashley Judd	John Stockton
"Forget our academics"	Notre Dame	Duke
Old coach	Steve Fisher	Jim Boeheim
Young coach	Sidney Green (Fla. Atlantic)	Matt Doherty
Really-needs-a-win coach	Bobby Knight	Bill Self
"He's due" coach	Kelvin Sampson (Okla.)	Al Skinner (B.C.)
Hoops hot-bed	Ohio	Georgia
Perennial underachiever	Cincinnati	Missouri
Nickname	Salukis (Southern Illinois)	Wildcats (pick any)
Cheerleaders	UCLA	(We're not that mean)
Small conference	Horizon	America East
Mid-major conference	Mizzou Valley	WAC
Power conference	Pac-10	Atlantic 10
Sleeper	Xavier	Wake Forest
Bandwagon Final Four pick	Maryland	Arizona
Carry-the-team PG	Cordell Henry (Marquette)	Steve Logan (Cincy)
Go-to scorer	Juan Dixon (Maryland)	Kareem Rush (Mizzou)
Upset special	San Diego State over Illinois	Hampton, Part Deux
Lock to choke	Indiana	Ohio State
Phrase at the office	"Two entry-sheets, please."	"So, it wasn't a recession?"
Sub-region	Albuquerque, N.M.	Greenville, S.C.
NBA stock	Chris Wilcox (Maryland)	James White (Florida)
"State"	Mississippi	Oklahoma
"Williams" on hot seat	Roy (Kansas)	Gary (Maryland)
Sartorial style (coach)	Snappy suit	Sweaters
Sartorial style (player)	Roc-a-fella	Sean John
Bench superstition	Locked arms	Timed feet stomp
Jersey to be seen in	San Diego State	Miami (Fla.)
Say hello, say goodbye	Montana	Florida Atlantic
"Sound-smarter" buzzwords for the water cooler	"Record vs. RPI 1-50"	"Um ... Duke's good."
Conventional wisdom	You need an experienced point guard	You need depth
Defense	Multiple zones	Straight man-to-man
Hot coming in	Gonzaga	Stanford
Hairstyle	The high 'fro	Cornrows
Three-point shooter	Kirk Hinrich (Kansas)	Jason Gardner (Arizona)
First-round matchup	Wyoming-Gonzaga	Duke-Winthrop
"Get over it already"	The Cincy-Oklahoma "Who's No. 1?" debate	Gonzaga as a 6 seed
Fashion statement	High socks	Headbands
Discussion topic	"How's your Greenville?"	"How's that presentation?"
Trend	Return of power leagues	Mid-majors are a force
"OH-ver-RAY-ted!"	Indiana a 5?	Pittsburgh a 3?
NIT favorite	Virginia	Butler
Will screw your pool sheet every time	UCLA	The Big Ten
NCAA coach convention hot-button issue	Tanking the conference tourneys	Recruiting LeBron James
Pity for burst bubble	Utah State	Memphis
Strategy	3-point bombs away	Half-court execution
Cliché	"Survive and advance"	"One game at a time"
Storyline	Fourth No. 1 as weakest link	KU, MD, Duke FF locks
Least likely to be underexposed	Jason Williams (Duke)	Frank Williams (Illinois)
Needs more hype	Luke Ridnour (Oregon)	Drew Gooden (Kansas)
Hottest ticket	D.C. sub-regional	64 vs. 65 play-in
"One Shining Moment" cover-band wish	Alicia Keys	Enrique Iglesias
Duke flaw to watch	Jason William's FT percentage	Carlos Boozer's fouls
Spotlight-stealer	Quin Snyder to DePaul?	Tim Floyd to Purdue?
Human highlight reel	Marcus Hatten (St. John's)	Sam Clancy (USC)
Bandwagon team	Oklahoma	Illinois
Potential second-round matchup	Cincinnati-UCLA	Pitt-Cal

Everyone out there thinks they know the hot sleeper or the favorite that can't miss. Well, Page 2 already has heard it all, and here's what we think of the conventional wisdom on picking this year's bracket big winners:

Page 2 bracket picks
Category	We like	We don't like
East fave	Maryland	Georgia
East sleeper	N.C. State	Texas Tech
West fave	Gonzaga	Cincinnati
West sleeper	Xavier	Missouri
Midwest fave	Kansas	Oregon
Midwest sleeper	Florida	Texas
South fave	Duke	Alabama
South sleeper	USC	Indiana
Has it easy	Duke	The West
Got hosed	Gonzaga	Georgia
Pick for your boss	Kansas over Duke	Alabama over Gonzaga
Pick for yourself	Maryland over ...	... Duke

Dan Shanoff is a regular contributor to Page 2.