Go chalk, block out upset talk

AUSTIN, TEXAS— No one knows who will win.

That’s the fun part of all this. Do you really think ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi can pick the 2017 NCAA national basketball champion with any degree of certainty? What about Dick Vitale? He went chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk, chalk with his Elite Eight picks.

As you prepare to print out that innocent, unmarked NCAA bracket, keep in mind there is no perfect plan to make it happen.

The real truth of the NCAAs is chalk usually prevails in the end. There’s nothing wrong with a little upset here and a little upset there, but go in with the understanding that your picks are as good as anybody’s. The less blood, the better.

The biggest upset comes in the West, where I’m taking14-seed Florida Gulf Coast — a.k.a. Dunk City — to catch 3-seed Florida State in the opening round. And what of top seed Gonzaga and Kansas? The national analysts were all over Duke and North Carolina on Selection Sunday. Not so much for the Zags and Jayhawks. Of the three No. 1s, I have Gonzaga making the briefest appearance — out in the Sweet Sixteen, courtesy of Notre Dame.

I’m taking Sean Miller’s secondseeded Arizona team to earn the West spot in the Final Four. The Wildcats are smoking with big man Lauri Markkanen.

Duke should come out of the East Region.

College basketball is a guard’s game. That’s why the right side of my bracket has Kansas and North Carolina making it to Phoenix.

Kansas has Louisville looming in the Midwest final, but has great guards in Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham, along with swingman Joshua Jackson, a top-three pick in the upcoming NBA draft.

North Carolina most has the look of a champion in the making. The Tar Heels’ ace up their sleeve in the South Region with UCLA is big men Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks.

It may sound like a safe pick, but give me the Tar Heels to capture their sixth title in a high-scoring affair against Arizona.