March Madness
1) No #16 has ever beat a #1 seed. It will happen eventually, just not this year.
2) #2 seeds RARELY ever get beat. The latest team to do that was Hampton over Iowa St. back in 2001. This game was the beginning of the end for formerISU coach Larry Eustachy . Who, while driving back to Ames from Boise, Idaho (he’s afraid of flying) openly admitted he hit every bar along the way. The first sign of a drinking problem that later got him fired.
3) If you’re looking for an upset in the first round #12 seeds over #5 seeds seem to work. This year look at #12 Texas A&M over #5 Syracuse or #12 Utah St. over #5 Washington. Usually each year there is at least one #12 seed over a #5 seed.
4) All four #1 teams have never gone to the final four. And besides, how exciting is that to pick?
5) The sum of your final four participants seeds almost never go over 11.
6) March Madness was made on Cinderellas. Pick at least 3 #12 seed or higher seeds to move onto the next round. And at least one #10 or higher to win two games and make it to the sweet 16.
7) Power conferences usually do well. This year the Big East qualified 8 teams. 3 or 4 of them will most definitely make the sweet 16 and as many as 6 or 7 could win their first round game.
8) Point guard play wins championships. (see Duke, UConn, and Kansas) But a good center can take you a long way too. (see LSU and Texas)
9) The color blue. For some reason the color blue does very well in college basketball (Duke, Kansas, UConn, North Carolina)
10) 14 of the last 16 champions have been either a #1 (Duke, Memphis, UConn and Villanova) or #2 seed (Texas, UCLA, Tennessee, and Ohio St).
There you have it 10 tips to help a beginner do better in your March Madness pool.
My final 4 picks are Texas, Pittsburgh, UConn and Boston College. My seeds add up to 12 but I’m very comfortable in my picks. In the final I like Texas to take on UConn and UConn to win the whole thing.
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