The Best Tips On How To Fill Out Your Bracket – By Bowtie Seth

A. No one fills out a perfect bracket

B. Yes, anyone can beat anyone. But when you look at the whole thing together, it usually looks pretty chalk

C. To beat other brackets, you generally have to have at least one pick that other people aren’t making.

Now for the golden nuggets of hoop knowledge I’m droppin on ya,

     No, I’m not telling you to stuff the ballet box. That’s cheating. And cheating is wrong. What I’m telling you to do is fill out 2-3 practice brackets. You have to be able to look at the whole thing at once and see which makes the most sense.

     This is one of the more confounding things I see from beginners. When you fill out a bracket for the first time, and you get to the championship game it’s so easy to end up with teams you don’t actually think can get that far. “Georgia almost beat UK, they can beat Michigan State. And come on, Virginia can’t score points, Georgia could definitely pull an upset! Providence vs Georgia, UGA wins.” Before you know it, you put the Bulldogs in the Elite Eight. That’s all well and good if you really think Georgia is an Elite Eight team, but you might not. Pick your final four teams first. Then work through the bracket from there.

     I see people get way too married to their picks while they’re filling out their bracket. If you change your mind while you’re penciling in your teams, then change your pick.

     No, mock-drafts aren’t just an NFL thing. Go check out one for the Association. Check NBA projections for players. If a player is a lock to get run in the NBA, he’s gonna be a major asset while his school is dancing. It’s not always who has more NBA players, but if Team A has a bunch of NBA talent and Team B has none, there’s a good chance the Fighting B’s are heading home.

      There’s always gonna be a 12 beating a 5. It just happens. But this is Rule C at work. If everyone is picking every twelve five upset, then nobody’s bracket is any better than the next. Get a 12 seed through there, but try to stay creative.

     Size matters more in hoops than any other sport. Winn-loss records won’t tell you anything about Team A being 6’11 across the front-line and Team B’s tallest guy being their 6’8 center. It’s not an end-all be-all stat, but if one team is just way bigger and taller than another, that’s something to keep in mind.

    The final buzzer goes off and your team just won a first round game. Their reward? The assistant coaches scrambling to study the next opponent, because the game is in 48 hours. Decipher tendencies, unlock defensive schemes, and learn offensive sets. It’s no accident that coaches like Tom Izzo have a great record in these kinds of games. Some coaches and staffs are just better at that turn-around, and it’s something to consider when you’re building your bracket.

       Per Rule A, my bracket isn’t gonna be perfect and yours probably won’t either. But hopefully these tips can help you get at least some bragging rights at the office.