Some call it March Madness.

Prediction Pandemonium is equally apt.

This time of year, most everyone seems intent on predicting the immediate future. Who will win the ACC Tournament? (North Carolina.) How many and which ACC teams will get bids to the NCAA tournament? (Four, barring a surprise run in the ACC Tournament – UNC, Duke, Clemson, and Miami.) Will an ACC squad reach the Final Four? (Count on the Tar Heels, who need never leave North Carolina to earn a trip to San Antonio.)

The speculation is all in good fun. Well, almost all of it. But making predictions does have its downside, a truth worth considering before this season ends and we start fixating on how things shape up next year.

One pitfall, particularly for media members, is the natural tendency to root for the outcome you predict.

A correct pick denotes a measure of insight and understanding, and therefore reflects well on the judgment of the person making a prediction. This is especially true when the choice goes against conventional wisdom.

Take the media stampede to pick Miami to finish last in the conference in 2008. That was a clear misread of personnel, past performance and potential, as the Hurricanes' 21-win, first-division finish amply demonstrated.

Sure, the Canes finished last in 2007. But they refused to quit despite injuries, suspensions, and tough losses. Their final three defeats came in overtime. “We kept our guys together,” coach Frank Haith recalled proudly during the offseason.

So it was not really a surprise that the same core group, plus healthy center Anthony King, went 8-8 in the ACC this season, Miami’s best finish to date as a conference member. Among the wins was a home defeat of Duke hailed as perhaps the best victory in program history.

Of course it’s gratifying to be among those who picked Miami for the ACC’s upper echelon, and an encouragement to brag. But that’s balanced by having picked Virginia Tech for the league cellar.

A low finish by the Hokies seemed a reasonable prediction, given that they lost two of their top three scorers, had no returning guards, and featured an unproven inside game. Instead, to Seth Greenberg’s credit, he directed Virginia Tech to a top-four ACC finish for the third time in four seasons as a league member. “Maybe I’m not as dumb as people thought I was,” the coach said.

Apparently not. What’s more, maybe the programs the ACC poached from the Big East were not as weak in basketball as many proclaimed.

Who predicted that?

Of course the desire to make smart predictions is no big deal -- unless a media observer gets sucked into pulling for evidence of their own wisdom. Unfortunately, as fans know from painful experience, rooting colors vision. You see the game differently. That means, depending on your predilections, Greg Paulus’s flop to sell a charge becomes an egregious affront; Tyler Hansbrough’s unconventional footwork becomes an obvious travel; J.J. Hickson flirtation with parking in the lane becomes a 3-second violation crying to be called.

But predictions do more than undermine media members’ ability to view events with an open mind. Predictions also shape expectations, investing them with a certain power.

Consider how differently we would view N.C. State’s season had the Wolfpack not been picked to finish third in the ACC.

After all, N.C. State started two newcomers, which almost guaranteed an adjustment period. The team’s overall talent level was probably overrated in popular estimation. There was no experienced point guard.

Then, in what may have been a coaching gaffe, Hickson was made an immediate starter, sending hard-working Ben McCauley, the squad’s best passer, to the bench. “I think the players from North Carolina State, and this is just an observation, they didn’t like the attention Hickson got,” said an ACC head coach.

Injuries plagued the N.C. State playmaking corps. Effort and concentration waxed and waned, as it does on many clubs, but often to devastating effect.

Since a certain level of performance was expected but not delivered, questions arose early and often regarding what was wrong with the Wolfpack. Players and coaches were pressed for explanations. Failures were magnified. A sense of disappointment grew.

Gavin Grant’s prediction of no more than four losses by his team was periodically trotted out as a benchmark for expectations gone awry.

The loss at Wake Forest on Saturday was N.C. State's eighth in a row, worst at the school since a nine-defeat streak in 1992. Outside the N.C. State basketball program, it’s doubtful anyone will pick the Wolfpack to get past the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament, let alone win the school's 11th league title.

In fact, expectations in Raleigh have receded like the water line at Falls Lake. Many observers, including pro scouts, now predict Hickson, the centerpiece of the’08 squad, will enter the NBA draft. Subtract Hickson and Grant, a senior, and it is easy to foresee a program facing an extended rough ride.

No wonder some coaches chronically downplay the prowess of their own teams. Pick us to finish near the bottom of the league, Dave Odom implored writers, only partly in jest, during his tenure at Wake Forest from 1990-2001. He knew better -- eight of his 12 Wake squads made the NCAAs; two won ACC titles.

But Odom also knew praise comes to those who exceed expectations; criticism, often bitter, attends those who fall short.

That’s more than a prediction.