March Madness is just around the corner and, just like every other year, it’s going to be MAD. Driving millions of people across the country crazy, picking the perfect bracket is something that has NEVER been done before. The Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, even offered a cool $1 million to anyone who could pick the perfect bracket. The odds of doing such a task are 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. But with these helpful tips compiled by our NCAA March Madness experts at The DailyER, those odds will improve to 1 in 1.
1. Never pick a team that wears blue to win it all
A team that wears blue jerseys has actually NEVER won an NCAA basketball title, so steer clear of blue in the title game.
2. Pick a few 16 seeds to win first-round games to hedge your bets
A 16 seed has never actually upset a 1 seed, but it’s bound to happen, right? Just pick a couple this year to be safe.
3. Be cautious of teams if you don’t know what the mascot is
Wichita State has a “Shocker” as their mascot, and they normally don’t do extremely well in the tournament, so stay away from these teams. But I also have no idea what a Duke “Blue Devil” is, and they usually win a lot of tournament games, so, really, just do what you want here.
4. Pick a couple upsets
Upsets are fun! Davidson over Kentucky? Hell yeah. Lipscomb over North Carolina? Sure, why not? There’s really no rhyme or reason for picking upsets, so just pick 30 or so first round upsets to really spice up your bracket.
5. Don’t pick Michigan State to win
Michigan State hasn’t won a national title since 2000! Also, I don’t like them very much. And their coach, Tom Izzo, is kind of a goofy guy. Just don’t pick them.
6. Draw cards from a deck of playing cards
Assign teams in a matchup to the color of a card. Red is the higher seed and black is the lower seed. If you draw a red card, pick the higher seed. If you draw a black card, consider picking the lower seed, but, if you like the other team better, just go ahead and pick them. I really don’t care what you do. It’s your bracket, not mine.
7. Don’t pick any upsets
Actually, don’t pick any upsets at all. There’s never been a single upset in the history of the NCAA tournament, so don’t pick any at all. Except for those couple 16 seeds to upset 1 seeds, but only those.
8. Fill your bracket in reverse
Start with the championship game. Who do you REALLY want to win? Follow your heart and pick a champion. Then, fill it in backward. Who do you want the champion to BEAT in the title game? Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina are all viable options here because I hate them all, and also Michigan State, but they shouldn’t even be in the title game because I hate them THAT much.
