The “Madness” is here. The upsets. The drama. The love. The hate. This is the time when Cinderella dons her best outfit. This is the time when 12 players can oust all of the dubious comments hovering over their teams’ performances this year and start anew. Records are erased. Everyone has zero wins and zero losses. The one goal in mind is to play in April, become immortal, and have your name forever entrenched among the greats of college basketball. Only one team can dance. 

Former All-American standout and current ESPN analyst Jay Williams is all too familiar with this tale. In 2001 he, alongside Carlos Boozer and Mike Dunleavy Jr, usurped the throne and the Duke Blue Devils were crowned National Champs after dismantling a talented Arizona Wildcats team. Now, the basketball savant has taken his IQ and paired himself alongside the bright people at Bing to help avid viewers assemble the perfect bracket. Williams’ immaculate knowledge of the game, in combination with Bing’s formula for picking the winner of this year’s tournament based on a bevy of variables like injuries, travel, statistics and more, enables people to have a better opportunity in cracking the Da Vinci Code of college hoops.

Myspace sat down with Jay Williams to discuss his collaboration with Bing, variables that can affect your bracket, his player of the year, All-American selections and what today’s game lacks. 

It's been a long and tedious season. If you could describe it in one word, what word would you choose?

Volatility.  

Why? 

Just because this year is hard to come to a conclusion on who's gonna be that team at the end of the year, because there's been a lack of consistency; you know what I mean? I think consistency is the one thing that makes the viewer not be on edge, because you think you know going into the tournament, “I know who this team is.” The volatility has been a fluctuation between being a No. 1 team and being a Top 10 team and being out of the Top 25. You see a lot of brand name teams that haven't been able to sustain being on top and you know, it's a little bit concerning and fascinating going into the the NCAA tournament.  

Because Bing is able to crunch in the numbers so seamlessly, do you think they'll be able to create the perfect bracket?  

I would hope so. This year is going to be hard. I mean look, they've been on-point with a lot of predictions already. So, I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. I'm on-board. Plus, you know, I was with them back in the beginning of this whole thing. So we were having talks about different outlooks and a lot of the things they told me have come to fruition. 

Well obviously, Walter [the creator of Bing's bracket analytics] is one of the best. He's humble. He's brilliant. I learn stuff from him every single day I'm on the phone with him, so collaborating with him on this—and expanding the word on this—is something that's big for me too, because I study our game every single day. So there's a factor that I bring into the equation about players and mood swings, and things like that. So when I bring that to the table for them, they're like, “Oh, let's take that into account.” It's a great feeling between things that are tangible and things that aren't that you're able to see and actually bring into a combination to make a prediction.  

So because you're able to see the numbers firsthand with Bing, has that changed your approach on how you watch the games now? 

It does. I look for different things. So prime example, they had Xavier as a potential No. 1 seed [back in late February]. At the beginning of the year, when I had said that, like, “Oh, this team could potentially be a one seed.” You were like, “What?” But, it makes you start paying attention for me in my perspective to that team. I pay attention to everybody, but 

I don't pay attention to all 350 Division-I teams. I'm not speaking off a teleprompter. So all of sudden, when Bing predicts this, you're like, “Oh, let me pay attention to Xavier.” All of sudden, when you start watching them, you're like, “Hold on a second.” Once again, with the volatility in our game right now, Edmond Sumner is a bad boy. Trevon Bluiett is a bad boy. Miles Davis can shoot the heck out the basketball. They have a squad, but people don't pay attention to the Big East because they're not on a national landscape. They’re FOX. You have people who can't find FOX. So people pay attention more to the ACC, The Big-12, and The Big-Ten. So when you see Xavier, you're like, “Hold on a second. Xavier can come out of nowhere and make it.” They're that good to do so. It's fascinating. 

But then, you see how they performed against a Seton Hall. Does that make you question the legitimacy of the system established by Bing?  

No it doesn't, because it's the same thing about every other team that plays. Xavier has never been number one in the country, but how many teams have we had that has beaten a number one team in the country? So Maryland is playing right now and sometimes you believe in Maryland, and then they turn around and lose to Minnesota who's only won two games in the Big-10. So what do you think about Maryland now? Or hey, Duke has won some big games, but then they turn around and lose to teams they shouldn't lose to. Same with Kentucky. Same with Michigan State earlier. Now they're on a run, but if Denzel Valentine gets in foul trouble, guess what? It's gonna be a different looking team. 

Kansas is good, but they have dropped some games. So it all depends on how the bracket is finalized. Once the bracket comes out, then you can better determine which team has an easier route. It doesn't mean they're gonna get there, but you can determine based upon the big numbers, this team might have an easier route to the Final Four than this team.

Prime example, Arizona last year: Arizona had to go through Wisconsin to get to the Final Four and you were like, “That's a bad match-up for Arizona.” Now if they weren't in Wisconsin's bracket, I would have chosen them to go to the Final Four, but they were and that made you change your opinion.  

Who’s Jay Williams' National Player of the Year? 

It's hard for me to against Denzel Valentine just because he's a beast, man. It's like, I think about where Michigan State would be without him and I don't think they would finish Top 6 in the Big-10 without him. That's the same way you look at Tyler Ulis from Kentucky. I don't think they're on top of the SEC without Ulis. But, with Valentine, man, the dude is putting up changing numbers. 

It's like game-changing numbers. I mean, I don't know exactly what his numbers are, but he's almost had a triple-double per game. When you look at what he provides to a team each and every night when you're asked to give your team 20 points, to give you your team 16 points in assists, give your team 8-9 rebounds, that's a lot of responsibilities. He's been able to handle that well. I love how Magic has been helping him out. I love that relationship. He's first class, man. It's gonna be hard to keep him out. Buddy Hield [from Oklahoma] is right there, but I think their little funk lately has hurt them. As for Michigan State, they've been winning out. It's gonna be fascinating to watch.  

If you can give me Jay Williams First-Team All-American, which five players would you choose?  

Tyler Ulis [Kentucky], Denzel Valentine [Michigan State], Buddy Hield [Oklahoma], I'd put Ben Simmons [LSU], because you don't see talent like him every single day and even though his team hasn't been winning, he's been putting up ridiculous numbers as well. Finally, I'd go Malcolm Brogden from UVA.  

How would you compare the game today to when you played back in the day? 

The game is a lot more sensitive these days. It was sensitive back then too, but not on the same level. I have a hard time with this new generation of kids that they're all friends. That's fine. I had guys that were my friends when I played. But as soon as we walked on the courts, I wouldn't help you up if you fell down. I'm gonna stare at you while you're on the floor and step over you to let you know your place in this game is looking up at me beneath me. 

Those are the types of mental games that are played on the next level. The AAU generation with these kids and everybody playing together and they're playing different games, it's like people have a hard time separating competitiveness and friendship. There needs to be a fine line, a drastic line between the two. It's cool that we're friends, but when we get on the court, I'm trying to take your head off. That kind of competitiveness needs to be driven into some of these young guys because they don't have it yet.