It's that time of the year when your favorite college basketball team needs to put up or go home.

Everyone has participated in an office pool by filling out "bracket sheets" and followed their picks and their favorite teams. Cincinnati.Com's Hoops Madness Contest brings the excitement to a whole new level!

This contest allows you to make your bracket selections online for the men's basketball tournament that runs from March 17 through April 4, 2005. You can make your picks beginning March 13 after the games are announced and come back often to check how well you are doing after every game.

Week 1 consists of picking the games for Rounds 1 and 2. Your picks must be made between 9:00 p.m. March 13 and 11:55 a.m. March 17 ET.

Week 2 consists of picking the games for Rounds 3 and 4. Your picks must be made between 11:00 p.m. March 20 and 5:00 p.m. March 24 ET.

Week 3 consists of picking the games for Semifinals and Championship. Your picks must be made between 11:00 p.m. March 27 and 11:55 a.m. April 2 ET.

HOW TO PLAY:

• Sign up - Enter some user information and a nickname and you're ready to play.
• Make your selections - Select the teams that you think will advance all the way to the championship game.
• Check your results - Come back after each round, check your rankings to see how well you are doing. Challenge your "office pool" friends and compete against them.
• Win prizes - Grand prize is season tickets to the Cincinnati Mashals, an iPod with 100 tunes and a $100 gift certificate to What If Sports. Three weekly winners will win an iPod mini and a $100 gift certificate to What If Sports.

It's that easy. To enter the contest, please click on the "PLAY" option in the navigational menu.