March Madness bracket pool tips: A beginner’s guide
You are three quadrillion times more likely to be struck by lightning in your lifetime than you are picking a perfect bracket, so don’t sweat the early rounds. By Neil Greenberg Neil Greenberg Reporter analyzing advanced sports statistics for the Fancy Stats blog Email Bio Follow March 20 at 10:15 AM March Madness starts in just a few days and for non-basketball fans building a bracket can be somewhat intimidating. Don’t worry, we have you covered.
Here are a list of tournament teams that failed to advance to the semifinal round of their conference tournament: No. 3 LSU, No. 3 Purdue, No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 4 Virginia Tech, No. 5 Mississippi State, No. 6 Maryland, No. 7 Louisville, No. 8 Mississippi, No. 8 Syracuse, No. 8 VCU, No. 9 Baylor, No. 9 Central Florida, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 10 Iowa, No. 11 Ohio State and No. 11 St. John’s.
Joe Osborne from OddsShark found that teams favored by five or more points won 85 percent of their matchups in the tournament since 1996 while those favored by fewer than five won just 53 percent. Upsets candidates by this method, using the consensus point spreads found at Vegas Insider, include No. 12 Oregon over No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 13 UC Irvine over No. 4 Kansas State, No. 10 Iowa over No. 7 Cincinnati, No. 12 Murray State over No. 5 Marquette, No. 10 Florida over No. 7 Nevada and No.
Forget about picking a No. 16 seed to beat a No. 1 seed: since 2011, the first year for the current 68-team field, the No. 1 seeds have outscored the No. 16 seeds by 20 or more points in 18 out of 32 contests. Last year’s surprise, No. 16 UMBC, at least had a 1.2 percent chance at upsetting No. 1 Virginia, which is more than double the chances of any No. 16 seed in this year’s tournament.
How often does a seed reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament? No. 11 Saint Mary’s has the best chance out of all this year’s double-digit seeds at reaching the Sweet 16 and comes with the added benefit of not being on many brackets — only eight percent of entrants in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge have them going that far. No. 10 Iowa is another team whose chances to make the Sweet 16 are higher than the public’s perception .
If you are in a large pool it pays to be bold here — that’s the only way you can differentiate your pick from dozens of others. A No. 3 seed, historically, is underplayed relative to how often they appear in the Final Four .No. 3 Texas Tech is a good choice here. The Red Raiders have an efficient scorer in Davide Moretti and one of the best rim defenders in the country in Tariq Owens .Your championship game matchup should involve no seed worse than No.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Analysis | March Madness bracket projection and today’s games to watchThe chaos factor has been tamped down on the NCAA tournament bubble a day before Selection Sunday, but there are plenty of games that will shape the field.
Read more »
Analysis | 2019 NCAA tournament: The perfect bracket to win your March Madness poolThere are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 different ways you can fill out a bracket. Or, you can just copy this one.
Read more »
Analysis | Zion and beyond: The NBA fan’s guide to March Madness 2019NBA fans, pay attention: Duke freshman sensation Zion Williamson leads a class that also includes teammate R.J. Barrett, Murray State's Ja Morant, and North Carolina's Coby White.
Read more »
A beginner's guide to filling out a March Madness bracketFilling out a bracket for March Madness is easy even if you haven't watched a single game of college basketball all year.
Read more »
Everything you need to know for March Madness 2019From key dates to schedules to where to tune in, here's how you can follow all of the March Madness this year.
Read more »
6 tips for filling out your March Madness bracketMarch Madness is back! Here's a few vital tips you need to know before filling out your bracket.
Read more »
2019 March Madness Bracket Contest Prize: $1 Million A Year For Life From Warren BuffettFamed investor Warren Buffett is offering his nearly 400,000 employees at Berkshire Hathaway companies a chance to win $1 million a year for life. The catch: You need to pick the correct Sweet 16 in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament.
Read more »
March Madness: Here are projected No. 1 seeds in NCAA tournament bracket on Selection SundayDuke, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee are forecasted to be this year's No. 1 NCAA tournament seeds. What about Gonzaga? We dissect profiles.
Read more »
NCAA tournament 2019 bracket help: Four smartest first-round upset picks of March MadnessWinning your NCAA tournament pool is contingent on making smart picks. Here's a look at the four best bets for bracket-busting by double-digit seeds.
Read more »
March Madness 2019: Full bracket, expert picks and predictionsMarchMadness 2019: Full bracket, expert picks and predictions
Read more »