It is finally March, and we are past the cold, gloomy months of January and February. With the beginning of March comes the start of spring, spring break and, for avid sports fans like myself, March Madness. If you are unaware of what March Madness is, it is an exciting college basketball tournament where some of the best teams and mid-major powerhouses clash to see who will become the NCAA champion. The last two years the Men’s NCAA tournament has been won by head coach Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies; however, this year, it is almost certainly going to be someone else who lifts the trophy. The tournament is a 68-team format with four different regions. Each region has teams seeded one through 16, and the team that makes it out of each region goes to the Final Four. It is a very exciting tournament and something that I look forward to every year.

Although nobody has ever had a perfect bracket, it is helpful to understand college basketball and some information about the teams before making your picks. This year, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has three out of the five top teams in college basketball. Those teams included number one ranked Auburn, number three ranked Florida and number five ranked Tennessee. The conference is extremely good, top to bottom, and will have great success this year. Some other extremely talented teams outside of the SEC are Duke, Houston and St. Johns. Duke has had some uncharacteristic seasons in recent years with the departure of legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, but they are back at the top this year with a very young and talented team. Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppal are both stellar freshmen that lead this team, and experienced guard Tyrese Proctors runs the backcourt. For the Houston Cougars, this is their third season in a row as a number one seed in the NCAA tournament, and they have a very solid, all-around team. St. Johns missed the tournament last year, but under the leadership of head coach Rick Patino and the talented play of Deivon Smith, Kadary Richmond and Rj Luis Jr, the Red Storm have a great team this year. 

Along with knowing the top teams for the year, knowing some trends and how to structure your bracket will also help you do better in your bracket league. The first rule of thumb when choosing your bracket is don’t pick all of the higher-ranked teams. These brackets are known by bracketologists as “chalk” and have very little probability of actually winning. In fact, the Final Four has only consisted of all number one seeds once in the tournament’s history. Some other rules that I like to follow are picking at least one 12 seed to upset a five seed, and possibly having a 13 seed upset a weak four seed depending on the year. I would also try to pick a champion that not everyone picks but is still a strong team. This way you will get more points by having them go far when other people don’t. Another piece of advice I would give that I wish I would have done in the past is to watch the conference tournaments that lead up to March Madness. By watching these tournaments to see which teams are going to win their conference for the year, you are able to get a better idea of whether any of these teams have the capability to upset someone in the tournament. These are smaller Division I teams, but they still have some amazing basketball players, and getting a feel for the talent will help you make your picks. My last piece of advice when filling out your bracket is to not overthink one pick too much. A lot of the time, the bracket that I did immediately after the bracket drops on selection Sunday will end up doing better than the bracket I pondered and over-thought about every game. This is the reason why people in your bracket leagues who have never watched college basketball before and have no idea what they are doing somehow end up winning. It’s frustrating, but by sticking to your gut and having some colrlege basketball knowledge, you can have a more successful bracket than other members in your league. It is always a great tournament, and March really is the best time of the year.