Tips For Picking Your March Madness Bracket

It's time for this week's Man-Day Installment from Jensguy (AKA Trent).

So, if you have ever lacked the desire to fill out a bracket sheet for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, there now are one billion reasons why.  Billionaires Dan Gilbert and Warren Buffet are offering $1,000,000,000 for the person who picks a perfect bracket this season.  Of course there are better odds that the Nigerian Prince email scam will actually pay off for you, but it does add some excitement.

For those of us just picking for bragging rights (or for those who just want to show up our spouses,) I have put together some tried and true tips to help those who have not watched every game this year with their picks.



1. Defense wins championships.  Come tournament time, when one game means glory or going home, teams that are superior defensively do very well.  Good defense also leads to easy baskets which are harder to get in the tournament.  Here is the list of the top 5 defensive teams in college basketball:

1.  Arizona
2.  VCU
3.  Virginia
4.  Ohio State
5.  Florida

2.  Guard play is supreme.  Every year there is a sharp shooting guard or two that can put a team on his back and lead them to Sweet 16 glory, or even further.  Also, if you are watching random games, these types of players bring all of the excitement that the tournament is about, so make sure that you catch their games.  Here are the top 5 guards that are likely to take over in tournament time:

1.  Shabazz Napier- UConn
2.  Doug McDermott- Creighton
3.  Fred Van Fleet- Wichita State
4.  Marcus Smart- Oklahoma State
5.  Andrew Wiggins- Kansas




3.  The dreaded 5-12 upset.  Every year one of the 12 seed teams will beat a 5 seed.  Find which of the 12 seeded teams have the best defense and pick them.

4.  Go ahead and put all of the #1 seed teams into the sweet sixteen.  Generally that is all of the love a #1 seed is worth.  In the sweet sixteen they will lose with more frequency, So analyze the match-ups after that.

5.  Teams finishing strong.  Sometimes teams will rack up a lot of wins at the beginning of the season and limp towards the end.  Other teams start off slow and get hot at just the right time, playing their best basketball going into the tournament.  Here are the 7 hottest teams going into the tournament.

1. Wichita State
2. Florida
3. Louisville
4. Virginia
5. Michigan
6. Iowa State
7. UCLA

6.  Don't pick Kansas to win it all.  They will ALWAYS break your heart.

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