• East
• South
• Midwest
• West
Here are a few tips from J.P. Giglio and Luke DeCock to help you fill out your bracket. Feel free to use them, but remember that there are no sure-fire formulas in this tournament.
1. GUARD PLAY
In the NCAA Tournament, particularly in the first two rounds, it all comes down to guards.
Teams with good guards can shoot from 3-point range. Teams with good guards aren’t vulnerable to waves of pressure from more athletic opponents. Teams with good guards can control the tempo of the game.
It starts with point guards.
This season, that means North Carolina (Ty Lawson), Memphis (Tyreke Evans), Texas (A.J. Abrams), Syracuse (Jonny Flynn), UCLA (Darren Collison), Kansas (Sherron Collins) and Michigan State (Kalin Lucas).
Everyone wants to talk about Florida’s big men on the back-to-back title teams, but guard Taurean Green made the whole operation work.
Looking for that double-digit seed on its way to the Sweet 16? Look for backcourts such as Siena's (Kenny Hasbrouck and Ronald Moore).
2. IF IT WAS THAT EASY, EVERYONE WOULD GET IT RIGHT
As simple and self-evident as the first rule is, this one is more of a theory of relativity or an anti-theory.
Sometimes you gotta zig when conventional wisdom says zag.
Winning your office pool is a luck-driven process. More often than not, the winner is the person who goes against the grain.
Don’t be afraid to take some chances. Not a “16 beats a 1” type chance but more like a “this George Mason team has good guards and tournament experience” gamble.
You know what? As long as the pick is different than everyone else’s, you’re pretty safe.
3. DON’T PICK A TEAM A YEAR LATE
Last year was last year. Teams change. Seeds change. And most importantly, sites change.
Kneel at the altar of Bobby Cremins, and thank him for keeping Stephen Curry out of the tournament. Davidson went to the regional finals last year.
That was last year.
The Wildcats would have sunk your bracket this year because they weren’t the same team without point guard Jason Richards. And Kansas, with so many new faces, defines a team a year late (see UNC 2006).
4. SAME TEAM BACK
The most self-explanatory and common-sense rule also is the easiest to apply.
There’s no time of the year when experience is more important than the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Nothing — no conference tournament or big non-conference neutral site game — can prepare a player (or coach) for the sheer mayhem of eight teams in one place.
It’s a unique experience, and teams that have been through it before and know the routine have a tremendous advantage, one that grows as the tournament wears on.
A small-conference champion with a starting five who lost two first-round games the previous two years may be the most dangerous team in the tournament. They know what they’re doing.
Louisville, North Carolina and Siena (again) have the experience factor this year.
5. PICK A TEAM YOU HATE
This rule has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with psychology.
In everyone’s bracket, you reach those games where you really can’t discern an advantage one way or the other. It’s human nature to go with the team you would rather see win. Don’t.
As much as you may hate Villanova — and can find all kinds of reasons the Wildcats will lose — fact is, you’re picking with your heart. This rule is designed to put your brain back in charge.
If all the teams you wanted to win did would win, this would be way too easy. Life isn’t fair. Neither is the NCAA Tournament. Teams you don’t want to win will win. That’s the way it works.
So as much as a North Carolina fan would love for Duke to be upset in the first round, and vice versa, chances are that’s not going to happen, so don’t kill your bracket by picking with your heart.
6. FORGET THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS
The bracket is rife with surprise conference winners, so they all won’t lose in the first round, but in general, teams that expend maximum energy winning their conference tournaments have nothing left for the NCAA Tournament.
Georgia (2008) and Syracuse (2005) are classic examples.
Conversely, the teams knocked out early, such as Pitt, UNC or Oklahoma, should be fresh.
