If you’re anything like us, you’ve spent the last few weeks watching all the March Madness games and filling out countless NCAA bracket predictions, trying to pick the winners of the biggest sporting events of the year. We can’t tell you how many times we’ve made our picks only to have them come up snake eyes. As sports betting enthusiasts, we always find ourselves coming back for more the next year. That’s why we’ve decided to create this article – to help other fans and even sports bettors come up with some solid strategies for selecting their brackets.
Keep Your Eye On The Goal
One of the best things about March Madness is that it offers a variety of games that you can bet on. You’ll have your pick of traditional matchups like Michigan vs. Kansas or Syracuse vs. Clemson, as well as up-and-coming challengers like Middle Tennessee State vs. Baylor or Rhode Island vs. Saint Peter’s, which might not be a particularly traditional rivalry but will still be one of the most intriguing matches of the entire tournament.
One of the most challenging parts of constructing a March Madness bracket is deciding which games you should bet on and which ones you should avoid. If you’re anything like us, you’ll find yourself struggling with the same issue. It’s one thing to have a hunch about a particular matchup; it’s another to pick a winner from a group of games you’re not too familiar with or against an opponent that you might have overlooked.
To that end, we’ve got a solution for you. Do yourself a favor and keep your eye on the prize. You might be into sports betting, but that doesn’t mean you have to bet on every game. Instead of wasting your time and energy trying to pick the winners of the thousands of games that fill up the NCAA tournament, focus on the five or six games that you’re most confident will end up being winners. If you follow this strategy, it won’t be long before you start seeing the fruits of your labor. And when that happens, you’ll be glad you didn’t take a knee on every game.
Use Scoring Systems To Your Advantage
Another thing that makes March Madness so much fun is the fact that the games are usually close. In most cases, the total points scored by both teams will be within a few touchdowns. This makes it difficult to predict the outcome of a particular game because there’s so much uncertainty. In that same light, it’s also great because there’s rarely more than a couple of overtimes in any one game. The ball is literally never, as they say, “in the air for long.” This is why you need to be careful when picking your brackets. One of the simplest and most effective ways to ensure you make the most of the games you select is by using a scoring system.
If you remember, in high school and college football, teams would often “score” in the final seconds of a game. This is basically the same concept, but with more strategic implications. Using these types of systems, you can eliminate much of the guesswork that comes with simply picking winners based on their records or statistics. Instead, you’ll find yourself taking a much more in-depth look at the entire game and using the score as a determinant of the outcome.
Of course, the downside to this method is that you can’t get the “wow” factor that comes with seeing a game that you’ve picked in person. Still, it’s definitely a nice alternative to going into the game blind. And who knows – maybe you’ll even have some fun games to brag about after the tournament is over.
Don’t Forget About What Could Happen In The Future
One of the things that makes March Madness so special is the fact that we get to witness the rise of “small school” teams all the way up to the big schools. In most traditional sports, the small schools don’t have the revenue or the alumni networks that the big schools do. This makes it much harder for them to compete on an even playing field. In the last 20 years or so, however, the financial resources available to smaller schools have greatly increased thanks to new TV deals and increased revenue streams from online betting and selling of tickets to big-school games.
This could potentially alter the face of March Madness. With more people willing to pay to see underdogs upset the traditional big-school order and bring home the championship, it’s clear that the financial clout of the little teams is increasing. Middle Tennessee State is a perfect example of this theory. The school doesn’t have the traditional “blue ribbon” aura that surrounds some of the other big-schools in the conference. Still, the UT Martin Skyhawks are a force to be reckoned with, having made it to the championship game in 2019.
This is something to keep an eye on. Who knows – maybe, in the near future, we’ll see some exciting games, with underdogs knocking off the top dogs and changing the face of the tournament. Stranger things have happened, after all.
Strategize In Advance
Another important thing to do if you want to make the most of your March Madness bracket is to do some research. As we’ve seen, sometimes the games can be much more unpredictable than you would expect based on the records of the involved teams or the dynamics of their rivalry, which has led to some very interesting and unexpected outcomes. One of the best things about March Madness is that you get the opportunity to look at all the underdogs and see how they managed to pull off an upset.
If you want to be able to predict the winners of March Madness with absolute certainty, you’re going to have to put in the research. Looking at trends and statistics can give you a good indication of how a game might play out. It might not be easy, but it’s definitely doable. And the more you learn, the more you’ll be able to predict. Do your research, study the trends, watch the top dogs and underdogs, and you’ll be able to construct a solid bracket.