PDA

View Full Version : For All those doing the NCAA Tournament bracket here are some tips



Keith7
03-11-2005, 10:34 PM
The Odds of March

Rule your office NCAA pool—or be that annoying guy spouting factoids during time-outs. Your pick.

Maxim, March 2005

By Sean Cunningham

Know Your Seeds
# Sucker bet: Since the tournament expanded to 64 (now, uh, 65) teams in 1985, no 16 seed has ever won, though Princeton gave Georgetown a coronary in ’89 before losing 50–49. Geeks drool!

# Four 15 seeds have escaped round one (Richmond, 1991; Santa Clara, 1993; Coppin St., 1997; and Hampton, 2001), which still ain’t great odds. And none of them got past the second round.

# Since 1989 nine 14s have beaten 3s. Two (Cleveland St., 1986; and Chattanooga, 1997) made the Sweet 16, but, like you “accidentally” grazing the intern’s tush, the action stopped there.

# The 13 seeds win about 20 percent of first-round games, with at least one advancing in 10 of the past 15 years. Three (Richmond, 1988; Valpo, 1998; and Oklahoma, 1999) reached the Elite Eight.

# Upset special: In 15 of the past 16 years, at least one 12 has knocked off a 5. Two (Manhattan and Pacific) did it last year. Stick with these upstarts; they’ve made the Sweet 16 a dozen times.

# Though 11 is the lowest seed to reach the Final Four (LSU in ’86), they actually tend to do worse in the first round than the 12s, going 15–45 since 1990 (12 seeds are 22–38). Deadbeats.

# The 10 vs. 7 matchup is practically a tossup, with the 7s winning only six more games over the past 15 years. The furthest either has gone is the Final Four (7 seed UVA reached in 1984).

# Sometimes it pays to favor the underdog: 9 seeds actually hold a 32-28 edge over the 8s since 1990. Then again, 8 is the lowest seed ever to win it all—Villanova in ’85. Go, Cats!

Alittle More
# When in doubt, pick the ACC. Since 1990 its teams have made 16 Final Four appearances and won five titles (rest of the nation: 10), with four different schools reaching the final game. Them boys can play.

# More specifically, pick Duke. In the past 19 years, the Blue Devils have gone to 10 Final Fours and won the title three times. Preppy, fundamentally sound bastards.

# Early exit: Arizona has made a staggering 20 straight tourney appearances (winning it all in ’97), but they’ve lost in the first round eight times, including last year. Hey, that’s consistency.

# The America East, Big Sky, Big South, Ivy League, Mid-Continent, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot League, Southern, Southland, SWAC, and Sun Belt conferences haven’t won a game in five years. Pick accordingly.

Final Four
# Teams seeded 9 through 16 have reached the Final Four only twice (LSU, ’86; and Penn, ’79). In the past 25 years, the champ has been an 8 seed once, a 6 twice, a 4 once, a 3 three times, a 2 five times, and a 1 seed 13 times. At least one top seed has made the Final Four every year except 1980. Seems the best teams get the higher seeds. (We smell conspiracy.)

# Go west, young man, go west… but not if you want to win an NCAA basketball title. In the past decade, 27 of 40 Final Four teams came from east of the Mississippi River, including seven traight champions and counting. Where have you gone, Miles Simon?

And the Winner Is…
# Ask yourself, “Which team has the best go-to guy?” No recent squad—from Maryland with Juan Dixon (20.4 points and 2.5 steals per game) to Syracuse with Carmelo Anthony (22.2 ppg, 10 rpg) to Connecticut with Emeka Okafor (17.6 ppg, 11.5 rpg) last year—has gone all the way without a superstar leading the way. This year, watch out for KU (Wayne Simien), Wake Forest (Chris Paul), Duke (J.J. Redick) and Syracuse (Hakim Warrick). Up yours, balanced scoring!

Fun with Tourney Trivia
You may know the all-time record of airborne vs. aquatic mascots, but how ’bout these facts?

# Oregon won the first NCAA tournament in 1939 but hasn’t been to the Final Four since. What’s up, Ducks?

# The phrase “March Madness” was coined by Henry V. Porter in 1939…to describe an Illinois high school basketball tourney. It wasn’t until 1982 that Brent Musburger first used it during NCAA coverage. Thief!

# Each year Horner Flooring provides a new Final Four floor, then puts it up for sale to the champ or another Final Four team. And sometimes they actually buy it!

# In 1942 Stanford beat Dartmouth to win the title…and $93.75. In 2005 teams will score up to $760,000 for their conferences by reaching the Final Four. And yet some people still believe players should be paid. (The nerve.)

# The defending champ has returned to the final 20 times, but only in 1962 was it complete déjà vu, when Cincinnati spanked Ohio State for the title—just like in 1961.

# In 1989 Michigan’s Glen Rice scored the most individual points ever (184). A year later UNLV set the team mark with 571. Oddly enough, that’s also how many towels coach Jerry Tarkanian chewed through on the sideline.

# March Madness is estimated to cost U.S. employers over 96 million man-hours and $1.5 billion in lost productivity each year. (Not that you’re part of that or anything…)

Keith7
03-14-2005, 08:07 PM
ttt if anyone cares