March Madness Tips for a Successful Bracket

It’s time for March Madness. A time when we fill out our brackets to be the best NCAA Basketball prognosticator. NETimeGambling.com is here to help with the March Madness Tips for a Successful Bracket.

“The one inalienable truth about March Madness is that your bracket – and my bracket, and the overwhelming majority of brackets from coast to coast – will very likely implode by the end of the tournament’s first weekend.”
According to Robert Deutsch of USA TODAY Sports

NETimeGambling.com investigated strategies for a successful March Madness bracket. While many are based on statistics, we all know that surprises are inevitable. So our disclaimer for these suggestions is to “follow them at your own risk.”

March Madness Tips for a Successful Bracket

Tips from Mike Benzie, from NCAA.com

Considering data from 1985 since the tournament field was expanded to 64 teams and 32 first-round games Mike Benzie, from NCAA.com, says, “…here are some things we learned:

The world is not picking the 12 seed enough – No. 12 seeds win almost 36 percent of their games, but we pick them a little less than 23 percent of the time.
The 8-9 game is a virtual lock. We’ve picked the eighth seed at a slightly higher clip, but it’s close.
You can go with the higher seeds in the first round, but you probably want six upsets among teams seeded 10-15. History shows how many of those lower seeds win in the first round. That’s where the skill comes in – picking those six and trying not to knock out a potential Final Four team. Last year, ten such double-digit seeds won.” 12 March Madness Tips from

Tips from Dr. Tim Chartier – Leave Your Feelings Out of It

Dr. Tim Chartier, a mathematics professor at Davidson College, has come closer than most to identify the dynamics involved in March Madness. Read the article linked above. To his point, Chartier’s student-selected brackets have scored as high as 99.9 percent in their selections, beating millions of others in ESPN challenges.

Tips from Luke Morris

Finally, considering tips for winning your NCAA Tournament pool, we turn to By Luke Morris, Staff Writer from Sports Day in Dallas, Texas.

Know your pool’s scoring system: This first step could dictate many decisions throughout your bracket. For example, knowing whether a pool’s scoring system weights upset victories and correct pick values multiply with each successive round, you can determine how aggressively to play.
Easy as 1, 2, 3 (usually): Only one champion in the past 15 years has been seeded lower than No. 3. (Go UConn, #7 in 2014!)
Look back at non-conference play: Teams from lesser-regarded conferences are harder to evaluate. So look back at their non-conference games. Teams who keep contests closed or hold opponents to low scores can have Cinderella makings.
Advance all 4-seeds at your own risk.
The second-round slip: Boot one of the #1 seeds and #2 seeds out in the round of 32. At least one of each has dropped out in that round since 1996.
Conferences to avoid: Here’s a warning for those tempted to pick a Big Ten or Pac-12 school as champ: Those two major conferences have not produced a national champion over the last 16 seasons.

Good Luck with your brackets.

Binbin