Let's Talk NCAA Brackets - Questions and Predictions
Mates,
Technically the NCAA's start later today with the 'First Four' in Dayton. And while its a bummer that Michigan is not dancing this year, the NCAA's remain literally the greatest sports tournament in the world, or at least in our country. The wild games, the upsets, the great memories are unique to this tournament like no other.
I have run a family (and a few friends) bracket for years and sit here now about to fill out a bracket. That said, I have a few questions.
1. If/when you are in an NCAA pool, do you get more points for each win as the rounds go on? For instance, a first round win is 1 pt. A win in the second is 2pts, 3rd round = 4 pts, and so on? Is there another, better way to do that?
2. Who are your fun upset picks? Is, say, #14 UCSB going to get past Baylor as a 3-seed? Does a #13 Kent St. get past a #4 IU? Those upset picks are one of the great joys of the tournament.
3. Who do you have as a Final Four?
4. Who do you have winning it all?
If you want 'in' on my pool you have to have a my contact info already so those of you who have it, send me your sheets. I put up the money (not a lot though) for the pool so it's not gambling, you can only win money and it costs nothing to join and of course is just for fun.
Have a great day and hey, hopefully our boys win their NIT tournament game tonight, and our ladies advance in their NCAA seeding.
XM
Bracket is already busted
1. yes
2. standard 5-12 upset
3. Boring. All four 1 seeds
4. 2 brackets. Houston or Purdue
I'm having a hard time even looking at a bracket without Michigan in it. But I'm sure I'll get into it once 'the ball is tipped'.
Alabama is going to win it all just for the awkward interviews.
Without audio the man is still an asshole.
I'd put Saban as one of the least asshole-ish of the coaches that are at/near the top. Not sure how high that bar is...
I hope someone posts some good bets! I'm here for the parlay action.
I run a pool too. I use upset points to encourage and reward those picks. The bonus is (underdog seed - favorite seed)*round. So if a 12 beats a 5 in the first round, you get 7 additional points. If that 12 beats a 4 in the next round, you get 16 points (12-4)*2. Each round doubles in values, starting at 2 for R1, going to 64 for the winner.
Haven't really looked too close, but the way I pick upsets (because of how I run my bracket) is "in reverse". I see some top seeds going out early (Purdue, UCLA - because of injuries), so I may pick them out a round early. Like Memphis beating Purdue and ... yeah, I just don't see UCLA losing until Gonzaga... maybe. KS for sure. Other one-offs are Iona (game is in Albany vs a WC team), VCU, whoever plays TCU (because I am still pissed about the CFP), Charleston (game is in Orlando vs SDSU), and I don't know if I'll have the guts to pick it, but Vermont...
I have Arizona over Duke and Texas over Kansas with Texas taking it all as good karma for helping us in CFP Risk.
1. When I gave a shit who won the damn thing (so I entered a bracket) yes.
2. Whoever is playing MSU
3. Dont care. Michigan aint in it, my interest-meter goes to zero
4. Again, dont care BUT it would be nice to see Purdue win it all. I actually like them and their HC but if history serves, they'll get bounced in the sweet 16 or earlier.
Yes, I might be a tad bitter this year. Go hockey!
oooh. a bit salty, no doubt.
it does make some difference in the watching that michigan is not in it, but hey, it's still a great tournament.
He speaks for a lot of us. I have not even looked at a bracket. And yes, it was that way from 1998 to 2009 also. If Michigan is in the tournament I will watch literally every game. When they are not in it, I am just waiting for the Masters. I will watch Michigan's NIT games but aside from that my college basketball fan-season is over.
March 14th, 2023 at 10:53 AM ^
Purdue seems pretty shaky to me. They finished the regular season 5-4 and the mediocre state of the Big Ten has inflated their record on top of that. I would not be shocked to see them lose to the Memphis/FAU winner and I would bet against them if they should get to (probably) Duke/Tennessee
When I used to run a bracket challenge at my former place of work I would do the 1 point 1st round, 2’points second and so on. But, if you picked the actual winner you would get 10 points.
I tried to fill out a bracket yesterday but I just wasn’t really in to it. Michigan not being in has left me somewhat uninterested.
I’m sure as soon as the games tip I will be watching.
A lot of espn talking heads really like Bama, Duke, and UConn, so those may be teams to avoid. This seems like a year that is prime for parody, so I bet it will be someone like Kansas again.
March 14th, 2023 at 10:57 AM ^
Parodies are funny.
This is still my favorite sports time of the year and I won’t let Michigan underperforming this year spoil that for me. I still have to do a couple brackets. I’m leaning toward Alabama but they could lose first round too.
I am not invested in this tournament at all, but betting SEC in basketball does not to be supported by the weight of recent evidence. Tennessee was all "ooooh" last year going into the tournament and it took four minutes of game action against Michigan to realize they sucked.
Houston vs Arizona
Houston wins it all.
March 14th, 2023 at 10:02 AM ^
As long as Tiny Tim Izzo doesn’t make it out of the first weekend I don’t really care what happens.
March 14th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
I agree with other comments about not being very engaged this year with M not in the tournament, but for me it's a little more nuanced than that. Since we've had such a down year, I haven't been paying attention to basketball in general, so I have very little idea about any of these teams. Any bracket I do will be a complete blind guess.
I will say though, despite what the computers seem to say, and the number of teams the B1G was supposed to get in (honestly I haven't looked at a bracket or who made it in or got left out), I just don't think the B1G is very good this year. My prediction would be that most of the B1G teams bomb out in the first two rounds. Maybe a team or two makes the Sweet Sixteen, but that's the end of the line for the conference...
March 14th, 2023 at 10:18 AM ^
Standard March Madness rooting protocol besides "Michigan win all the games":
- Cheer for blue bloods to get upset in humiliating fashion
- Fuck MSU
- Fuck the Big Ten in general
- Hope a cheating/murder/liar program wins it all so most people are unsatisfied and everything is awkward (hello Bama, Kansas, Houston)
March 14th, 2023 at 10:21 AM ^
It’s a great sporting event with genuine drama missing from professional sports (although that gap is closing,,,). I’ve played in the same progressive points pool for 40 years. On the basis of this vast experience, I have one principal prediction:
I will fail to win the pool again.
That’s all you need to know about the quality of my predictions. Good luck to all your picks!
March 14th, 2023 at 10:23 AM ^
1. Yes - more points for correct calls as you the tournament progresses. They’re some brackets that you can pick each round as well should you not fancy the traditional scoring.
2.UCSB is a hot name. Arkansas is another one I’m super high on.
3 UH, Purdue, BAMA, Zags or Arkansas(haven’t made my mind up on those two yet)
4. Hard to go against Bama. That team is sound through and through. This is obviously without the moral issues they present.
March 14th, 2023 at 10:49 AM ^
I'm quite surprised how many people are apparently uninterested in the tournament without Michigan in it. Everyone too young to remember a time when Michigan basketball didn't make it for a decade? The opening weekend of the tournament is still imo the best event in sports.
I haven't been able to watch a ton of college basketball this season outside of Michigan which probably means this will be my best year ever for my picks lol
March 14th, 2023 at 11:08 AM ^
I remember it well. I remember not watching the tournament for a decade, too, and having a "pizza night" for the Michigan-Rutgers NIT final in 2004 when I finally briefly got to sorta-care about a college basketball post-season game.
My college basketball fandom equals, if not surpasses, my football fandom. This is a very bitter pill and I have not come close to digesting it yet.
March 14th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
I too remember it. I remember taking the afternoon off work on Thursday and then all day Friday and basically locking myself in the basement to watch every game I could see from Thursday noon until Friday evening and I did this without fail from 1985 to 1997 and then again from 2008 until this year. I remember being sick to my stomach when my favorite team of all time (85-86) got bounced in back to back years in round two. I remember every game of the 1989 - 1995 run. I remember all the great Beilein teams and how close he came to winning it all.
Let me ask you a question. Which bowl game did you find the most fun to watch after the 2020 football season ended?
March 14th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
Exactly. That's not to say that if I am sitting in my recliner on some random Thursday night and I scroll by CBS or TNT and there is some primetime matchup that I won't watch a few minutes of it. I'm not "repelled" by it but it most certainly is not appointment viewing.
One of the happiest moments of my sporting life was Michigan v. Clemson game in 2009 first round. It was like "really.... we get to do this again??!!"
March 14th, 2023 at 11:56 AM ^
Watching Science channel and thought it was cool that their NCAA tournament commercial starts with the Jordan Poole shot to win the game. Still resonates as one of the tournaments greatest moments.
March 14th, 2023 at 12:02 PM ^
Final four: Bama, Duke, Texas, Zags
I have a lot of upsets. Purdue first 1 seed to get bounced by Memphis or FAU. Doesn’t matter which one.
Got Drake Furnan Louisiana VCU Mizzou among upsets.
Bama wins it because they can play any style and win. Achilles heels as with every Nate Oats team ever is he relies too much on 3pt shooting.
March 14th, 2023 at 12:05 PM ^
Colgate is going beat Texas.
Otherwise the Big12 will do well. I like Seth's pick of Kansas St going far.
I like Arizona again this year. Final 4 type run, maybe to the championship game. Hard to argue with Kansas potentially repeating. Duke is playing well so they're an Elite 8 type team.
Something tells me Arizona St is annoyingly going to make a run to the Sweet 16? Iowa vs Houston could make for a hilarious 2nd round game. Slow, sloggy awesome defense Houston vs streaky shooting, run n" gun Iowa.
It's wide open. I won't be shocked by any 9seed and above making a run to the Final4 and championship.
Can’t get behind Zona their guard play is too inconsistent for me. I think that would be the 15-2 upset if there is one. Larson is a complete stud though
Definite drop-off from Mathurin and Terry last year. I can't see them losing that early but I welcome an Ivy squad creating some chaos!
1 - yes
2 - There's usually a 13/4 upset. This year, it's either Furman over UVA, or Kent St over IU. For the usual 12/5 - everyone's hot on Charleston over SDSU. Which is why I'm avoiding that and picking Oral Roberts over Duke.
3 - Marquette, St Mary's, Alabama, Texas
4 - St. Mary's....what?? It's been a weird year. UNC went from #1 to not dancing. Both NW and PSU are in the field, while Michigan is not. The whole thing looks pretty wide open to me. St Mary's for the win.