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How to pick basketball brackets

March Madness bracket tips: How to fill out your bracket, strategies, tips, upsets to choose

The possibilities are nearly endless.

As you examine your NCAA Tournament bracket this week and consider the possible game outcomes, it’s easy to get your brain all tangled up. But as you hunt for your March Madness cinderellas and pick your Final Four favorites, take a second to pause and realize that there are some general trends you should follow.

Here are some tips to help you optimize your 2022 March Madness bracket.

Always pick at least one 12-5 upset

One of the most well-known March Madness trends, but it’s known for a reason. A No. 12 seed has advanced out of the first round in 31 of the past 36 tournaments. New Mexico State, UAB, Richmond and the winner of the First Four game between Indiana and Wyoming will make up this year’s No. 12s. At least one of them will be playing into the weekend.

Also, pick at least one No. 13 seed to advance

It’s not as heralded as the previous entry, but the 13-over-4 upset has become pretty common. At least one has taken place in 10 of the previous 13 tournaments. This year, one No. 13 seed really jumps out: the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, who lead the nation in effective field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage. Their game versus Providence will be a highly entertaining battle of styles as the Friars want to slow the pace and get physical; the Jackrabbits want to run and gun. The Friars are only a two-point favorite currently, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.

A No. 2 seed will fall early

This year’s quartet of No. 2 seeds is quite formidable. Big East Tournament champ Villanova; Auburn, which spent a large chunk of this season at the top of the polls; Duke, a young but excessively talented squad led by an all-time great coach making his final tourney journey; and Kentucky, which, when healthy, might be the most talented team in the country. However, history states that one of these teams will be making an early exit. A No. 2 seed has bowed out in either the first or second round in 22 of the previous 24 tournaments. Two such upsets took place last year, including Ohio State’s shocking defeat to 15th-seeded Oral Roberts.

While an upset of that magnitude is still rare, you should probably advance a No. 7 or a No. 10 seed into the Sweet 16 in your bracket. And if you’re feeling lucky with that team, well ... read on.

A team seeded 7th or lower will likely make the Elite Eight

Some underdogs don’t stop after the first or the second round. A team seeded at No. 7 or lower has advanced to a regional final in nine of the past 10 tournaments. We had two such teams take an extended stay in the 2021 tourney — Oregon State and UCLA. The Bruins reached the Final Four.

Pick an unconventional Final Four

UCLA may have shocked many with their trek from the First Four to the Final Four last year, but you will probably see at least one relatively low seed make the trip to New Orleans for this year’s Final Four. A team seeded 7th or lower has advanced to the Final Four in seven of the past eight tournaments. Since 2011, 10 such teams have made it out of their regional. So while you should have at least one No. 1 seed in your Final Four — but never all four! — make sure you leave some room for a middle seed.

Your champion should be a No. 1 seed

Although it is extremely rare for all four top seeds to make the Final Four — it’s happened only once — it is almost just as rare that none of them reach the final weekend. That’s occurred just twice. Odds are that two No. 1 seeds will advance out of their regional, and one of them will cut down the nets at the end. A No. 1 seed has claimed seven of the last nine titles, including each of the last five. Also worth noting that each of the past five champions were No. 1 seeds in the previous year’s tourney. Gonzaga and Baylor, which met in the title game as No. 1 seeds last season, fit that bill this year.

10 Fun Ways to Pick a March Madness Bracket | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

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Kerry Miller@@kerrancejamesTwitter LogoCollege Basketball National AnalystMarch 19, 2013

10 Fun Ways to Pick a March Madness Bracket

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You went and did it again.

Despite your best intentions, another entire college basketball season passed you by without a single game making it onto your television.

These things happen.

Unfortunately, Mike from Accounting is insisting that you pitch in a few bucks and fill out a bracket. You didn't have the heart to say no. Now, you're pot-committed and staring at the names of 68 schools you don't know the first thing about.

It's too late to do all the research now, so just have fun with it!

Here are 10 fun ways to fill out a bracket, starting with the absurd ones that will never actually win your pool and working up to ones that might give you a chance.

The Coin-Flip Bracket

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Even the most knowledgeable college basketball entities would agree that some of these games don't have a true favorite. As one example, the computers are giving Colorado a 50.7 percent chance of beating Illinois.

Go ahead and flip a coin on some of those tougher early games, but if you're actually trying to win your pool, don't leave it up to the coin as to whether a No. 1 seed will beat a No. 16 seed.

As random as coin flips can be, doesn't it always seem like you end up with two double-digit seeds playing each other in the national championship? Has anyone ever gotten the national champion with a coin-flip bracket, let alone won their pool? That person has to exist somewhere, right?

Which Mascot Would Win in a Fight?

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This is probably the most popular "random" bracket and easily the most fun to fill out.

Exactly how fierce is a Badger?

How brutally would a Wolverine murder a Jackrabbit?

Would a Buckeye be able to defeat a Gael? Buckeyes are poisonous, but can also be stepped on. Is Ohio State secretly sneaking buckeye powder into the Gaels' food or is this a face-to-face battle in the Coliseum?

And has there ever been a better first-round mascot showdown than the Spartans vs. the Crusaders?

The best part of the mascot-battle bracket is that it's totally subjective, with battles involving Hurricanes and Cyclones up for debate most of all.

I'm convinced it was this bracket idea that spawned every other non-sports bracket you've ever seen. I'm also convinced this bracket has never won a March Madness pool.

Jersey Colors

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"Buddy the Elf. What's your favorite color?"

If McDonald's Shamrock Shakes were placed on this earth for the sole purpose of pleasing your taste buds, there's a good chance you'll have Notre Dame going all the way in this bracket.

Probably your best shot at a championship is to convince yourself that you really love the color red. You could end up with a Final Four of Louisville, Ohio State, Indiana and...Western Kentucky? Well, that's no good.

Maybe instead of your favorite color, you could make a "Roy G. Biv" bracket! In the play-in games, pick the teams closest on the color spectrum to red. Do the same with orange in the second round and so on.

This would be a really fun one. Someone needs to do this and tell me who wins the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

If you're color blind, I apologize if this idea offends you.

Proximity to the School

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I moved to the Fairfax, Virginia area a few years after George Mason's run to the Final Four in 2006. I didn't get to experience the environment, but I understand the buzz was everywhere.

It usually doesn't work out that way, but if your hometown team makes a deep run in the tournament, do you really want to be the jerk rooting against them in order to win a bracket pool? Unless they denied your college application and fatally damaged your self-worth, probably not.

My mid-west geography is far from perfect, but based on this idea, it looks like there could be a pocket of brackets in Seymour, Indiana that wind up with at least Louisville, Indiana and Ohio State in their Final Four...though they might also end up with Western Kentucky.

How does that Final Four show up in two completely unrelated random brackets?

Whether you base this bracket on your hometown or your current location is irrelevant to me, but if you're filling it out while on an airplane, be sure to bring an eraser.

Vacation Destinations

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If all the No. 1 seeds advance to the Final Four, this bracket will be completely garbage. No offense if you live there—though it probably means you agree with my sentiments—but who wants to vacation in Indiana, Kansas, Louisville or Spokane, Washington?

On the other hand, we've got some great early-round pairings with this idea. Would you rather visit Chicago or Denver? Are you more intrigued by spending time in Miami or what I assume is the Pacific Ocean? And how about that second-round battle between Florida and UCLA?

The interesting thing about this one is that clearly not everyone has the same idea of what would be a fun vacation. Perhaps you still spend your evenings listening to Elvis records and would love nothing more than to spend a month in Memphis. Or maybe your degenerate gambling instincts lead you to pick UNLV to win it all.

One thing's for sure, though: Whoever survives the Oklahoma State vs. Oregon game isn't going very far.

Words That Are Fun to Say

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The hidden benefit of this bracket is that if you know how to pronounce the name, it's probably because they're popular enough to be a good team.

Gonzaga, Villanova, (Mike) Krzyzewski, (Matthew) Dellavedova, Shabazz (Muhammad), (Victor) Oladipo and Gorgui Dieng are all fun to say.

Maybe you prefer alliteration over absurdly valuable Scrabble words. In that case, you've got the Pitt Panthers, Kenny Kadji, Shaka Smart, the Golden Gophers and even Phil Pressey if that's technically alliteration.

Or take your pick from options like most consecutive consonants, fewest letters in team mascot, alphabetically by school or whichever team has the most letters that also appear in your own name; it doesn't matter. If you're picking based solely on spelling, you might as well just make it as crazy as possible.

The Weighted Coin-Flip Bracket

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So you want to do a coin-flip bracket, but you don't want it to be a completely impossible mess? Try the weighted coin-flip bracket.

This one is not for the weak of heart or thumb.

Now, you don't actually add weight to the coin, but you weigh the number of results that each team needs in order to advance. Take Pittsburgh vs. Wichita State, for example. Assign heads to Pitt and tails to Wichita State. Because Pitt is the No. 8 seed and Wichita State is the No. 9 seed, Pitt would need eight heads before Wichita State gets nine tails.

You would think this would end up having virtually no upsets, but you would be discounting the randomness of probabilities. When I did this bracket two years ago, I had a No. 13 seed knocking off a No. 4 seed and a No. 3 seed winning it all. That was the year Connecticut won it all as a No. 3 seed, but unfortunately I picked the regions in the wrong order.

As you can imagine, there will be several pairings where you'll actually need to flip a coin 16 times in order to decide the outcome. Probably not the best bracket to fill out in your cubicle.

The Lottery System

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I threw the fun bracket idea out on Twitter (@kerrancejames) and got a mixed bag of responses. Most of them were ones I had already come up with, but @phillipbeneteau came up with one that I really liked.

He suggests putting all the school names in a hat and then as you pull the name, that team advances as far as possible. So, for example, if the first name you pull is Notre Dame, they're your national champion. If the second name you pull is Iowa State, too bad so sad, because they play Notre Dame in the first round. Keep pulling names until your bracket is full.

It's a fun idea, but it's way too random. I say let's combine that idea with the NBA Draft Lottery.

Each No. 1 seed gets 16 entries into the hat. Each No. 2 seed gets 15 entries into the hat, and so on and so forth. Better yet, if you have a lifetime supply of ping pong balls lying around, you're really weird but you're well-prepared for this bracket idea.

As each team is drawn, put them as far as you can in your bracket.

Yeah, you're going to pull a lot of duplicates, but you just took the time to put 568 slips of paper into a hat. Clearly, you have nothing better to do.

Mandatory Upsets

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I've been trying to perfect this one for several years, but I always seem to guess wrong.

Over the past five tournaments, there have been an average of nine first-round upsets—no more than 10, no fewer than seven. On average, four of the Sweet 16 teams pull off an upset to get to that point. And save for 2011, which was just an insane year for the brackets, there have been exactly two upsets to get into the Elite Eight in four of the last five years.

For this bracket, I should point out that an upset is considered any win by a worse seed. Even though no one would really consider it an upset if Missouri beat Colorado State, it's technically one of the nine you should be looking to count on in the first round.

So there you go. Pick nine upsets in the first round, four in the second, two in the third round and hope for the best. The upsets are going to come from somewhere, and you have as good of a chance at finding them as anyone else.

Try not to rely on the No. 15 and No. 16 seeds, though.

Geographical Advantage

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For many college basketball teams, it's been months since they had to travel to a different time zone.

Syracuse, for example, played one game in Arkansas almost four months ago and hasn't traveled further west than that since. The Orange have the joy of playing the first two rounds in San Jose, CA, and the first game won't tip off any earlier than 10:00 p.m. ET.

On the flip side of that coin, many highly ranked teams aren't traveling far at all for their first weekend in the tournament.

Traveling is probably overstated in many professional sports, but college kids are hardly accustomed to long trips—other than backpacking through Europe, of course.

Pick the team playing closest to home each game and chances are you'll have a strong bracket heading into the second weekend of the tournament.

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How to choose indoor basketball shoes

What to look for when choosing indoor basketball shoes.

What to look for when choosing indoor shoes.

WE HELP YOU TO CHOOSE SNEAKERS

Today we will tell you a few nuances that you should pay attention to when choosing a basketball pair for playing on parquet, rubber and other indoor surfaces.

Safety

First of all, you must be responsible for the stability and support of the foot in the last of the shoe. To do this, it is important to pay attention to the height of the side profile, the width of the sole, and also to understand how flat it is.

Pictured: Nike PG 5

Traction

The next thing we want to point out is the amount of grip the shoe has on the outsole. This is an important aspect that will determine the speed of the first step, as well as the reaction time of the sneaker to a change in direction of movement. We recommend choosing pairs with a classic herringbone pattern on the sole, or similar tread patterns with small and frequent elements. Also, pay attention to the density of the rubber in the outsole. A softer and more pliable outsole will give you a better grip on the court and will not take time to adapt. On the other hand, do not forget that the softer the outsole material, the faster it will wear out. This rule works even in the hall on high-quality parquet.

Pictured: Nike Cosmic Unity

Cushioning

This item could have been part of the safety paragraph, but we've taken it apart because you're supposed to be playing in your most cushioned shoe in the gym. In a basketball hall, there is no danger of piercing a balloon on a stone or glass, and it will take much longer for the outsole to be wiped down to the shock-absorbing element.

In the photo: Nike KD 14

Comfort

This item directly depends on the combination of all the previous aspects. Therefore, when choosing a basketball pair for the hall, we recommend considering the flagship branded models of brands. After all, you must admit, it will be very unpleasant if, at the decisive moment of the game, you feel that due to a lack of padding, your leg is terribly rubbed or your heel is sharply sore after an unsuccessful landing on a weakly shock-absorbing sole.

Pictured: Nike Zoom Freak 3

The latest basketball shoes are available at Streetball.

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How to choose basketball shoes: 4 excellent models how efficiently you will move.

Vladimir Borisenkov tells you how to choose a pair, from the game in which you will enjoy.

The first thing you should decide is the place where you will play basketball. If you're in the gym, soft-soled sneakers are your best bet. Among soft-sole models, you should look out for the names of basketball players, such as Nike Kobe, Nike Lebron or Nike KD. All of these running shoes are perfect for the gym. If you will mainly play on the street, then you need shoes with a hard sole. For example, Nike Hyperdunk basketball shoes, Nike Zoom Run the One or K1X Anti Gravity basketball shoes. The easiest way to find out what the soles of your favorite sneakers are good for is to ask the sales assistant. It is very important that the sole has a good tread pattern - this pattern will allow you to increase grip on the site. As a rule, it is advised to buy sneakers with a herringbone tread, but now there are already a lot of tread variations that are just as good. Therefore, remember that the main thing is not the pattern itself, but only the cohesion that this very pattern gives. To test grip, use the old method - just run your palm over the sole, if your hand feels a high level of resistance, then this pair should interest you.

The second, but no less important factor when buying basketball shoes is the degree of ankle support. Ankle injury is the most common among basketball players, apart from finger injuries, of course. Sneakers are divided into three types according to the degree of ankle protection:

High / High. (Nike Hyperdunk 2015, Nike Lebron XII) These high top sneakers are a basketball classic. They provide excellent protection for the ankle and ankle, but significantly reduce the speed of movement on the site. These sneakers are suitable for absolutely everyone, but, as a rule, universal basketball players like to wear them.
Medium / Mid. (Nike Zoom Hyperquickness 2015, Jordan Melo M11) Compared to high-tops, mid-height shoes allow more freedom for the player, but at the same time reduce the level of protection of the foot. These shoes are suitable for experienced high-speed basketball players. For beginners, these shoes can cause injury.
Low / Low. (Nike Kobe X, Nike KD VIII, adidas 2015 Crazylight Boost Prim) Once upon a time, low-cut basketball shoes were something of an oddity. They were not taken seriously, but recently basketball players are increasingly choosing low-profile sneakers. The main reason is convenience. In light low sneakers, it is much more convenient to move around the site. You definitely shouldn’t be afraid of them, because in a strong collision, no sneakers will save your feet. It is worth remembering that the most effective way to avoid injury is to train to strengthen the ligaments and joints.

The third factor is the material from which the shoes are made. Leather used to be considered the best material for basketball shoes due to its durability and grip. But now everything has changed. Leather is almost never used in the manufacture of sneakers, and synthetics and plastics have become the main "culprit" of this. Over the years of various tests and checks, it has been found that both in terms of "survivability" and protection, synthetics with plastic are in no way inferior to leather. And it is also worth mentioning that in synthetics the leg “breathes” much better.

After you have gone through these three points, let's move on to the most pleasant thing - to try on. Remember that you need to measure sneakers on both feet at once! Before going to the store, put on or take with you the socks that you plan to play in. Then lace up well. And then you should walk around the store, or rather jump or make some kind of sudden movement. Thus, you will simulate the game situation and understand whether it will be convenient for you in them during the game. Pay close attention to the fixation of the foot. Your foot should not be tightly clamped in the sneaker, but it should not hang out in it either. Here it is necessary to adhere to the rule of the golden mean. It is also worth remembering that during games and training, your foot swells from fatigue, which is why many basketball players immediately take half a size larger for themselves to avoid various minor leg injuries and chafing.

These simple tips will help you find the right basketball shoes for you.

1. Nike Hyperdunk 2015

This model has already proven itself so well that it does not need a special introduction. All you need to know about these shoes is that they are the quintessence of superior engineering. The model is so good that a very large percentage of NBA players are cut through the courts in it. Although the model looks very massive, you will be comfortable playing in it, and the levels of cushioning, court feel and grip will pleasantly surprise you. If you don’t know what to choose from a variety of models, then you should know that choosing Nike Hyperdunk basketball shoes, you will definitely not miss, because this model is the most versatile.

2. Nike KD VIII

The eighth signature model of young NBA superstar Kevin Durant. For several years now, he has been favoring low-profile models, this is due to the fact that one of his main advantages over other players is speed. If you have a good starting speed and know that it is one of the main arguments on the court, then these shoes are made specifically for you.

3. Nike Kobe X

Just like Durant, Kobe Bryant favors low-top sneakers. It comes with a hefty price tag, but be aware that when you buy these shoes, you're getting a pair packed with innovative engineering. One of the main advantages is excellent traction. The outsole is made of high quality rubber, and the pattern is made in the style of snake scales, which is not only a cool decision by Nike, but also a reference to Kobe's nickname - Black Mamba.