March Madness is upon us once again!
A time when North America sees its highest work absence rate and college hoops fans and general bracketologists try to win that coveted office pool. A time when grown men and women spend hours in front of the television hollering at a bunch of guys in their teens and early twenties.
Well, being a self-proclaimed college basketball expert, I have come up with five ways for the general bracketologist to cash in whether it is a work pool or a sanctioned one like on www.cbssportsline.com.
College hoops diehards have their methods already so there’s no sense in me trying to reach out to them, so here goes:
1. Pick fun but pick smart: We all love to pick Cinderella teams and watch them pick the giants apart don’t we? I do it too. Problem is that for pools, you win most of your points in the final two weekends, making your Elite 8 and Final 4 picks the most important. Spending hours stressing over 7-10 and 8-9 matchups can be deadly.
My suggestion is to pick who you think will make it to the Elite 8 and advance them in your brackets, then fill out the rest of it.
Yes, sometimes the first few rounds are peppered with upsets, but by the time the smoke clears, the big boys are usually left standing.
2. Which Cinderella do I pick? This is always tough, picking the little team to upset the mighty faves. A lot of people over the years have gone to the ol’ 5 vs. 12 upset, and while this is fun to pick, it may not always be your best bet.
See a trend is a brewing that I just can’t ignore when I fill out my bracket this time around. Nine out of the last ten years the tourney has seen a #10 seed go to the sweet 16. I’m not saying pick a #10 to go all the way, but if UMass lands in that spot, I will pick them to win one, maybe two games.
The biggest factor when picking these teams is veteran leadership though. A few years back when we saw the Gonzaga’s and the George Mason’s making Final Four’s, they were led by four or five seniors in their starting lineup. My suggestion is to look at which teams have a veteran starting lineup, especially in the backcourt.
3. Injuries, injuries, injuries: In 2000, I picked a Kenyon Martin-less Cincinnati squad to make the Final Four, only to watch in disgust as they dropped out in the second round. Yes, I knew Martin had suffered a season-ending injury, I just thought the Bearcats would rally.
The thing is, a lot of teams whose star player goes down still seem to get a high rating from the selection committee (Cincy was a #2 seed), so take a few minutes to read up on any injuries to team’s star players.
4. Home is where the heart is: A lot of teams in college basketball have a little problem.
They play amazing at home and suck on the road. These are the ones to watch out for when picking teams to go far in the tourney because they under perform without their crazy fans cheering them on.
On the flipside, teams that play good away from home or at neutral sites are most dangerous in the tournament.
5. Let your girlfriend pick for you? I have done this every year since I have been doing brackets, and while I have yet to lose to my better half, sometimes picking a team by the mascot or who has the cutest player seems like a good idea when both the teams I picked to make the final die out in the Sweet 16.
