As the Men’s College Basketball season comes to an end, the best time of the year for basketball fans begins! The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament better known as “March Madness” will tip off on March 18th. An estimated 60-100 million people fill out brackets every year, ranging from die hard fans of the sport to people who only watch in March. The craziest fact of all is in the 85 years of the tournament zero people have correctly picked every game, better known as a perfect bracket! If you are going to do the task of filling out a bracket this season, it can be a challenge to figure out which teams to pick. From teams you have never heard of to teams that have won multiple championships, this year’s tournament will surely be a crowd-pleaser! From someone who has watched many hours of college basketball this season, I will be explaining on some teams you may want to pick or stay away from.
The tournament starts with the first round where teams are seeded from seeds 1-16 in four regions. With the better-performing teams seeded in the higher seeds. The first round starts with 64 teams in a single elimination format, 32 teams get eliminated after round one. The round of 32 then begins where 16 teams then get eliminated. Following a small break, the Sweet 16 starts where eight more teams get eliminated, then the Elite Eight begins where four more teams get eliminated. Finally, the Final Four and National Championship which brings in crowds of over 65,000 each year tips off in San Antonio, Texas this year. Now that you get the point on how the bracket works, let’s get into who to pick!
Throughout history only two 16 seeds have defeated a one seed, nine 15 seeds have defeated 2 seeds, and 3 seeds are 133-23 against 14 seeds. Going with this trend of past tournaments you generally want to pick all seeds one-three to win their first-round matchup, but if you want to go out of the box you could pick one of these lower seeds! Some teams I recommend in these seed ranges to pick include the University of Omaha, Wofford University, and Lipscomb University. Those teams all have very good offenses and can give high seeds in the tournament problems.
Every single tournament there is always a plethora of upsets in the 10-12 seed range. In the last 33 out of 39 tournaments at least one 12 seed has won a game, 11 seeds have at least won a game in every tournament since 2004, and 10 seeds have won 60 games since 1985. These upsets are almost guaranteed to happen every year, and sometimes these seeds advance past the second round into the Sweet 16 and beyond. Some teams in this range to keep an eye on include Vanderbilt University, Drake University, and University of Arkansas. Some teams in this range I would advise not to pick include San Diego State University and VCU. San Diego State does not have an offense that scores very well, and VCU may not be able to match up as well with top teams, as they do not have much experience against them. Whereas with Vanderbilt and Arkansas, they have beat some of the top teams in the country, and Drake is coming in with a very impressive record of 30-3.
Teams seeded in the five-nine range almost always advance to the Sweet 16 and beyond. These teams are known to be some of the highest teams picked in brackets to advance, and it’s for a good reason. Since 2010, 14 teams in this seed range have advanced to the Final Four. And I believe this year may follow that trend as well. Some teams I believe can advance far include the University of Maryland, UCLA, University of Missouri, Saint Mary’s College, Creighton University, and Clemson University. Those teams could match up well against the teams they go up against and have a chance of advancing far. Some teams I would stay away from advancing or better yet losing in the first or second round include Kansas University, Gonzaga University, and the University of Mississippi. Kansas and Gonzaga, came into the season with very high expectations but have not lived up to them. Clemson,Missouri and Maryland all came in with low expectations and have exceeded them which may take them far into the tournament.
Now we get into the heart of the teams you want to pick in seeds one-four. In every tournament since 1985 only three national champions have not been in this seed range, and there has never been a Final Four without at least one team in this range. So following this trend, you would want to pick at least two teams in this range to advance to the Final Four. Some teams to keep an eye on include Auburn University, Duke University, University of Houston, Michigan State University, Texas Tech University, and St John’s University. Some teams I don’t think have as good of a chance to make it this far include the University of Tennessee, the University of Kentucky, Iowa State University, and Purdue University. All the teams I listed here that may advance far have been all very good lately where the teams that may not make it as far has been very inconsistent lately.
This year’s tournament has a chance to be filled with upsets, buzzer-beaters, and fun games. Ultimately my pick to win it all this year is the Duke Blue Devils. The Blue Devils best player is Cooper Flagg who will be the number one pick in this year’s NBA draft, and they have players across the board who play great defense, and awesome offense. With that being said I hope that whatever team you pick wins it all, and you win your bracket group!
