With March winding down and the Final Four field set, the NCAA is ready to crown a champion.

But unless you’re a student, fan or alumnus of one of the four teams left standing, there’s only one thing that still matters: your bracket.

Two weeks ago, whenever the field was first announced, you were probably teeming with excitement. It was a chance for you to show off in front of your friends and win some easy money in your office pool. But you had no idea how wrong you were.

Sure, there might be over 11 million other fans filling out brackets, and there might be one in nine quintillion odds that you fill out the perfect bracket, but you’re better than that. You’re smarter than those millions of others and you must know something no one else does.

You probably bought into some savvy, trendy upset picks in the first round. Maybe you believed in Stephen F. Austin’s three-point shooting or the hype surrounding Davidson’s young upstart group. Well if you did, then you were probably disappointed to see those teams get blasted straight out of the gate.

That was a minor setback, but not the end of the world. At least you still have your Final Four picks intact, right?

Now, if you were really dead set on winning your office pool, you probably took a few risks and went with some unorthodox picks. Maybe you thought Baylor and SMU could squeak their way into the Elite Eight this year. Or maybe you thought Villanova and Iowa State would shock everyone by marching all the way to the Final Four.

Well, if you made those picks, you probably had a pretty traumatic weekend. Since none of your “expert picks” even made it to the Sweet 16, you’re starting to look more like the village idiot than a basketball guru.

But it’s OK, you still have a shred of hope. Entering the Sweet 16 and the beginning of the tournament’s second weekend, you probably thought you still had a chance. You were able to justify your picks because you still had 10 or 11 teams left in the field.

But you probably didn’t see that the worst was yet to come.

It probably hurt pretty bad when North Carolina fell to Wisconsin. And it must have really stung when Wichita State dropped to Notre Dame. And finally, when Gonzaga got blown out of the building by Duke, you probably felt like the world was coming to an end.

At this point, your bracket is probably in the trash and most definitely busted. If you still have a chance at first in your office pool, congratulations for picking Kentucky, and enjoy your winnings. If you still have Duke, Wisconsin or Michigan State cutting down the nets, cross your fingers, because this could be a very ugly weekend for you.

And if your national champion is out of the field, then your bracket is busted. Enjoy your year of humiliation and shame.

Next year, be smart — just pick Kentucky.