Seriously, stay with me as I bestow a few little nuggets of bracketing wisdom I picked between ‘Oooh I like that team’s colors!’ and ‘That point guard is really cute!’ to ‘What does Joe Lunardi have to say about this?’
What is March Madness?
March Madness, or The Big Dance, is the name given by the powers that be referring to the madness that goes along with the NCAA Men’s Basketball Division I Championship Tournament–an annual single elimination tournament featuring 65 college basketball teams. They are divided into four regions namely South, East, West and Midwest Regions. Why there’s no North, I have absolutely no idea. The games are spread and played over three weeks in different ‘neutral’ areas across the USA.
On ‘Selection Sunday,’ the NCAA Selection Committee (yes, there is such a thing) announces the 68 teams that are qualified for the tournament and ‘seeds’ them according to their ranking and performance (1-16). I’m not going to insult your intelligence so it goes without saying that 1 is ‘better’ than 16.
What is bracketing?
Bracketing is the style adopted by the tournament in organizing what teams will go against each other. As discussed above, the 68 teams that are participating are seeded or ranked from 1-16 for each of the four regions. After which, the bracketing is arranged. The #1 seeded team is pitted against the #16 team, the #2 against #15, the #3 against #14, ETC. The winners of the first round will be pitted against each other and so on.
The third round is called ‘Sweet Sixteen‘, the fourth ‘Elite Eight‘ and the fifth ‘Final Four‘–all corresponding the number of teams left in the particular round.
Bracketology, on the other hand, is the process of picking or predicting which teams will move forward in the tournament before it even begins. This is typically done on Selection Sunday itself, although can be finished before the first game of the tournament is played. Below is the bracket for this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship Tournament.
(Click to enlarge)
Ah, we have come to the most exciting part of this tutorial: filling out your brackets. As you can see in the image above, only the first round of the bracket is filled. These are the 65 teams that I have talked about earlier in this post. It is your job to predict the winners of the second round moving forward to the ultimate champion of the tournament as accurately as possible. If there’s one thing great about this tournament is that it packs a lot of drama in the short span of time it is on. The tournament is rife with upsets year after year. It basically puts the ‘madness‘ in March Madness. Since this is a single elimination competition, expect that each team will give it their best, there being no second chances.
Every once in a while, and in many dances that we go to, Cinderella shows up. In March Madness speak, Cinderella is the term used to call a team that’s not expected to win but advances through the tournament. Or in layman’s term, it is simply called an upset. But hey, we like to use Cinderella because this is, after all, the Big Dance.
So, before filling out your bracket sheet, you may want to consider the following basics in Bracketology for Women 101 (also known as the course for women who can’t be bothered to look up those boring stats):
1. In the history of the tournament, never has a #16 team win over a #1 team in the first round. I repeat, NEVER HAS A #16 TEAM WIN OVER A #1 TEAM IN THE FIRST ROUND. Go ahead and advance all the #1 seeded teams through second round. However, it’s not entirely taboo to pick a Cinderella as early as the first round, especially with teams seeded from 9 through 12. Rarely pick a #13 seed or lower to win in the second round. Only 9% of teams advancing past second round are seeded that low.
2. Speaking of #9, some believe that such seed is luckier against #8. The former tend to do better that the latter. So if you have to choose between the two, odds are more in favor of #9.
3. Play safe, woman! Stick to the big names and take into consideration their ranking. It isn’t put there for decorations. But, if you have absolutely ZERO idea whether a team is ‘big’ or not or if you are stuck between two teams, feel free to pick the team based on who has the better looking uniforms. Or cuter mascot. Or cuter players. Or if you’re hardcore, the team with the cuter coach.
4. Trust your womanly intuition! Knowledge isn’t necessarily power. Most guys spend hours, nay days, in perfecting their brackets. They do tons of research, watch ESPN every chance they get, read sports blog and pay hefty sums of money just to get a glimpse of Joe Lunardi’s ‘Inside’ bracket guide. On the other hand, many girls randomly select their brackets largely based on their gut feelings. How awesome would it be to beat these guys who have devoted so much time and effort into winning and hold it over their heads?
5. Get into it and make it fun! This is a really fun way to engage with the man in your life. Stakes are a great way to make it more personal. Throw down some girly stakes, most likely he will bite.
Watch and enjoy the games; ogle at those muscles and cute point guards. Take part in a pool. Who knows, it can be the source of next month’s shopping money. So, stop being a party pooper and join the March Madness festivities. You won’t regret it. In the words of legendary college hoops analyst Dick Vitale “It’s awesome, baby!”
