March Madness Bracket Strategies
It is estimated that $3 billion will be wagered playing online or in March Madness office pools for the NCAA tournament. Over 100 million people will fill out a March Madness Bracket even though they don’t watch a single NCAA basketball game during the regular season.
Most people do little to no research when filling out a March Madness Bracket and simply choose better seeded teams to beat their opponents. Others will maybe read an article or two about top teams to win the March Madness tournament or maybe watch an ESPN preview show.
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We have compiled a list of Top NCAA March Madness Bracket Strategies providing some useful March Madness stats and figures to help you out when filling out your tournament bracket. Using these March Madness bracket tips have made many bracket pool players a lot of money over the years.
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Here are our NCAA March Madness Bracket Strategies...
History Usually Repeats itself
The top seeds in the NCAA tournament are ranked high for a reason – they are that good! Here are some interesting facts: since 1985, no 16th seeded team has ever beaten a #1 seed in the tournament. The #15 seed has only ever beaten the #2 seed six times since 1985. That is 108 tournament games of history! Do you still think that when you fill out your bracket, you will pick the only time a #1 seed goes down? We all love when there is a big upset, but the truth of the matter is, it rarely ever happens. Smart March Madness bracket advice is to choose the #1 and #2 seeds to move past the 1st round.
Who will wear Cinderella’s Slipper This Year?
Each March Madness tournament, a couple of lower seeded teams knock off a higher seed in the NCAA tournament. The hard part is picking which teams will be the ones to do it. If you are going to attempt to pick an upset in your March Madness bracket, look for a 12th seed knocking off a 5th seed in the tournament. Since 1985, a 12th seeded team has won 34.5% of the total tournament games against a 5th seeded team. A #12 seed beating a #5 seed has almost become expected in the March Madness tournament, so that would be the Cinderella team to pick for your bracket.
Cinderella Always Comes Home
If you are able to correctly predict the Cinderella team that wins a couple of unexpected rounds in the March Madness tournament, you need to remember the following facts... The lowest tournament seed to ever reach the NCAA Final Four was an 11th seed. In other words, if you do decide to take a chance on an upset, don’t live in a fairy tale world and have that team winning the National Championship in your bracket. So, an important March Madness bracket strategy is to make sure the Final Four of your March Madness Bracket doesn't include any #12 - #16 seeds – it’s just not going to happen.
Check The Injury Report
Occasionally, a player will get suspended for academic reasons or other NCAA violations just before the beginning of the tournament. If the player is an important piece of the team, a 1st round knockout may be in the cards. Injuries can also derail your March Madness brackets, so some important advice is to remember to check out NCAA Injury Reports before filling out your bracket.
How is the Scoring Calculated?
Some March Madness Bracket contests have varying scoring systems. Ultimately, if you are able to pick all the correct winners in each round of the tournament, the point system won’t matter. However, knowing how points are allotted in your bracket pool is a top March Madness bracket strategy that may help you tremendously when you play in such a March Madness pool.
What Does Vegas Think?
Before making your final picks for the March Madness tournament, cross-reference the odds from the sportsbooks in Vegas against the matchups for the first round and see if there are any anomalies. If a 7th seed is playing a 10th seed and the Vegas odds makers have the 10th seed favored to win, you may want to take that into consideration. An important tip is...Vegas knows best.
Don’t Take ALL The Chalks
Often, when people are filling out a bracket for their March Madness office pool, they will simply pick all the top seeds to beat the lower seeds and they will ultimately end up with all four #1 seeds to face each other in the Final Four. Since 1985 there has only been one occasion where all four #1 seeded teams made it to the Final Four. When filling out your bracket, a smar strategy is to sprinkle in some of the #2 or #3 seeds in your tournament bracket to make the Final Four with maybe one or two of the #1 seeds to finalize your March Madness Final Four teams.
Filling out a March Madness Bracket can be a lot of fun and it is great when everyone in your group is involved. Don’t be intimidated if you know nothing about the NCAA College basketball tournament. By following our NCAA March Madness Bracket Strategies, your chances of winning your March Madness office pool will go up dramatically!
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