It’s time for March Madness and with the tournament selection just announced, one student offers these tips for building your bracket:
1. Pick all the No. 1 Seeds (At least in the first round)
Never in the history of the NCAA Division One tournament has a No. 16 seed beaten a No. 1 seed. It’s never happened. Sixteen seeds have lost 104 times to one seeds.
2. Pick all the No. 2 Seeds (At least in the first round)
Nearly equally rare, 15 seeds have only defeated two seeds four times in 104 games. However never has the 15 seed made it another game.
3. Some team will always surprise.
Whoever it is, like in past years Gonzaga, Butler, Missouri or Murray State, there is always one surprising team that goes further than anybody with any basketball knowledge could predict.
4. Only once have all four No. 1 seeds made it to the Final Four. (Also, only once has there never been a No. 1 seed in the Final Four.)
In the NCAA tournament, anything can happen and any team can be beaten any day. When making your picks I suggest not picking all four No. 1 seeds. On the other side of the ball don’t pick too few, they are usually the most dominant teams in the NCAA for a reason.
5. Pick Half the Eights and half the Nines
They have split the match-ups since 1985. Generally these teams are pretty even and come from good conferences, while they aren’t the most dominant of their group.
Look for a full story later tonight on Otterbein360.
