The descent into (March) Madness
By Allen Adams edge
staff writer aadams@themaineedge.comIt's that time of
year again, that time when even the most casual of sports fans (or even
non-fans) starts paying attention to the wild and wooly world of NCAA
hoops. That's right, folks. It's tourney time. Most of you
have seen the ubiquitous NCAA tournament brackets that follow the final
selections and seedings that took place over the weekend. Chances are
pretty good that even if you don't follow the sport yourself, you know
someone who follows college basketball. And there's a solid possibility
that that someone, or someone who knows that someone, is putting
together a tournament pool. Basically, you pony up a bit of cash
and fill out your own copy of the bracket, picking winners all the way
through the tournament, up to and including the 2010 champion. If you
make the best picks, you win the pot. While I'm no expert when it
comes to the college hardwood, I do have a touch of the degenerate
gambler about me. So, I'm offering a few tips on filling out your
bracket. The selection committee is smarter than you are Here's
the thing: I don't care how many hours a day you spend searching sports
Web sites and the blogosphere and trying to glean informative tidbits
that justify picking a 14-seed to upset a 3-seed in the first round.
These teams aren't just seeded at random; the committee consists of
experts who have made college basketball their lives. Seeding
almost always wins out, especially in the first two rounds, so trust the
selection committee to do their jobs. If you're dying to make upset
picks, check out the 8-9 and 7-10 match-ups. Those games tend to feature
teams that are pretty evenly matched. That said, there's almost
always a 12-seed that tops a 5-seed in the first round. Just one of
those things that happens. Something to consider, at any rate. Keep
an eye on hot streaks Check out things like conference tournament
results: If a highly-touted team made an early exit, they might be due
to catch fire. If an overlooked team made a deep run, they might be on a
"no respect" kick that could carry them deep into the NCAAs. On
the flip side, that early-exit team might have gone over a week without
playing a game. That could lead to some rust. Also, if a team went
all-out in the conference tournament, they might not have anything left
for the Big Dance. Don't overthink Let's be honest. The
true-blue fans and die-hard stat heads rarely win these things. At the
end, it's always the person who filled out his or her bracket in a
seemingly illogical manner. Maybe his favorite color is blue, so he
picked teams with blue uniforms to win. Maybe she went through and did
the whole "Obviously, a tiger would beat a husky" comparative mascot
thing. Maybe he just filled it out randomly. Regardless, the point
of this tip is that tips are pointless. You can invest a ton of time
and energy, working out match-ups and listening to the experts, only to
lose in the end to the dude in the next cubicle who picked his winners
by who came first alphabetically. So it's time to enjoy the best
postseason tournament in all of American sports. Have fun. Fill out your
bracket however you like. Maybe you'll even win. Myself, I'm resigned
to another year of tearing up my bracket midway through the second
round. |