It's that time of year again. March Madness is upon us.

And, that means it's time, once more, for the annual KUsports.com Bracket Contest, presented by Henry T's, Brotherhood Bank, Lynn Electric, Intrust Bank and Crown Automotive.

We've got a new twist this year: you must pick the winners of the play-in games. That means there's just two days to enter our contest, and we've already lost 16 hours! The deadline is Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. If you haven't already made a bracket, do it today.

If you've never participated before, our bracket allows you to track yourself against the leaders, any friends you follow on KUsports.com, as well as against our own staff.

As Jesse Newell and I mentioned at an event in Kansas City's Power & Light District this weekend, everyone wants to know when they're beating Tom Keegan.

As I mentioned in the headline, there is a fantastic prize for the best bracketologist among us: a 42-inch, high performance plasma HDTV, courtesy of Kief's Audio/Video in Lawrence.

Get your picks in. Get your brackets set. Good luck!

With the Big 12 Tournament literally days away, KUsports.com is about to kick its coverage into high gear.

Today, we're unveiling our Men's Big 12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament homepages. Bookmark them today, as they're going to get a lot more interesting over the next week or three.

In addition to all the coverage we're going to offer here — videos, blogs, stories, photos — we're also excited to announce details on one long-running tradition and one that's a little younger.

http://www2.kusports.com/photos/2010/mar/12/188457/

First, this week, we're excited to announce KUsports.com is returning to the Power & Light district to be part of the pre-tournament Fan Fest. Stop be our tent for free stuff, to sign up for our KU scoring text messages and e-mail alerts, as well as meet and talk to members of our staff. We expect Tom Keegan, Jesse Newell, Nick Nelson, Nick Krug and Matt Tait — among others — to stop by before or after KU's games. In addition, we're also excited to announce that we'll be moving our Big 12 tournament party inside Johnny's Tavern during the game. We'll have a live fan cam from Johnny's that we'll be embedding on the side of our KUsports.com live game coverage.

If you're going to be down in Power & Light, make sure you stop by.

The second announcement pertains to the KUsports.com Bracket Challenge. This year, we're going to take the changes the NCAA is making as a chance to make some of our own. In years past, you haven't had to choose the winner of the play-in game. This year, with four play-in games, you will. So that means the contest will only be open from Sunday night through Tuesday night. Come back to KUsports.com after the brackets are announced and make sure you enter for a chance to win a plasma HDTV, courtesy of Kief's, here in Lawrence. Presenting sponsors for this year's bracket contest include Henry T's, Brotherhood Bank, Lynn Electric, Crown Automotive and Intrust Bank.