NCAA Tournament Bracket Busters
By Kris Lazaro (5/4/2007)
This article will help the novice sports enthusiast tackle on the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament bracket. As outlined below, the author will list some ideas and hints on how to particularly fill out a winning bracket.
Primarily, one should fill out a tournament bracket backwards. One should select the champion and go from there. The Final Four teams should also be picked relatively early on in the process, for successful brackets will have a majority of the last four teams remaining. Most upsets do not occur in the latter part of the tournament, as such, do not pick a high seed to advance to the Elite 8.
Secondarily, the top teams are those with the best shooting percentages. The author recommends picking the best shooting team entering the tournament as the eventual winner of the tournament. Other factors to consider are those teams that have a good inside presence (has a high rebound margin); those teams that shoot free-throws well; and those teams that have a good defensive shooting percentage.
Thirdly, be realistic. Most Final Fours consists of #1, 2, and 3 seeds. Do not throw in a random 8 seed because it is fashionable. Such teams get eliminated in the 2nd or 3rd round of the tournament. On the whole, the tournament selects the best teams and assigns them a low seed (#1-3).
Fourthly, do not be afraid of the #12 seed. Surprisingly, there is usually at least one #12 seed advancing into round 2 (this can be explained because the #12 seed is a conference champion, whereby their opponent, the #5 seed is an at-large bid).
Some other hints and tips include:
Join multiple, free tournament pools and vary your picks—one will have a greater chance of winning something if one spreads the picks around.
Do not be afraid to use the point spread as guidance for the round 1 games. The most difficult ones to predict are the #8 v. #9 seeds—look for guidance and help from the oddsmakers on these games.
Never pick an upset in round 1 for the #1 or #2 seed. No #16 seed has ever beaten a #1 seed in the first round, ever.
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