Essential reading for your bracket
Posted: Tuesday, March 17, 2009 4:37 PM
Filed Under:
Links roundups, March Madness
So, you’ve spent the past two days pouring over every bit of info related to the NCAA tournament. You’ve scoured the Web sites, the blogs, the newspapers (or not), listened to the radio, watch the TV and talked with friends about your bracket.
And now, here you are, still agonizing over which 5 seed will lose first, if North Carolina can win with an ailing Ty Lawson, and just which mid-major is the most likely to make a run.
It’s a bear, right? Here’s some help.
Before you do anything else, read this analysis from Basketball Prospectus. It covers just about everything you should know regarded seed performance and the best indicators or tournament success.
True, it doesn’t what teams fit those indicators in this year’s tournament. But you’re not doing anything else in the next few days, right? OK, you have to work. Me too.
In the meantime, take an hour or so and sift through the following links. They cover everything you need to know.
I’ll open with our stuff from NBCSports.com. We’ve added stuff since Sunday night.
If you’re just starting, here are 10 who could win. But cross-reference those with who’s hot and who’s not. It’ll save some time. These first-round games to watch cover mostly the 8-9 and 7-10 matchups. More than any other year, the 1 and 2 seeds should be wary of their second-round games. Finally, don’t overlook these darkhorses.
Off to ESPN. Dana O’Neil’s tidbits column is a nice read, including a bit on the hottest ticket for the opening weekend (Dayton). Pat Forde has the Coen Brothers on the brain, but in a good way. The regional analysis (East, Midwest, South and West) isn’t must different than anywhere else, though.
Playing ESPN’s tournament challenge is SOP for people my age, but I like the new feature for this year: Importing a celebrity’s bracket. Not sure it’s much use, but it’s fun. It’s much more useful than the bracketcaster feature. I simulated the entire tournament, with some random results.
Chattanooga stunned UConn in the first round, and then had BYU win the West Region. And the East Region was even more strange. Pitt was stunned in the first round by ETSU, which then narrowly lost to No. 13 seed Portland State in the Sweet 16. The Vikings then reached the Final Four. George Mason, eat your heart out.
Sporting News also used Accuscore to predict the tournament, but didn’t have that kind of result. It did indicate that Kansas was the most vulnerable 3 seed, while Washington is the 4 seed most likely to lose in the first round. Food for thought.
SI.com’s Luke Winn is probably my favorite reporter out there. His 50 thoughts doesn’t disappoint. Of note are Nos. 37-40, which cover the stats that matter. Read up. Also, features on each region, East, Midwest, South and West.
CBSSportsline features the best online product in March: Watching the NCAA tournament streamed live. For those stuck at work, it’s a Godsend. Also worth a look? CBS is using “Bracket Science” to help users make picks. It weighs performances from past seeds and the likelihood of upsets and how often you should pick those upsets.
Then again, you could ignore that and just read this story on “anatomy of an upset.” It’s a little easier to read, both in layout and easily digestible facts.
FOXSports.com mostly uses video to preview the tournament, which is nice, but uninteresting to me. I’d rather find some text pieces, like their regional stuff from the East, South, Midwest, West. Right after that, I’m entering their game. A million bucks to the winner, in this economy? Wow.
Ah, fun with Digger Phelps. A Pitt-Xavier Regional final would be something to see.
Yahoo’s hoops experts had their picks up early. Most everyone else is waiting for Wednesday. Also cool on Yahoo are their early plotlines (In case you didn’t know, Morehead State’s first berth since 1984 was the longest stint for any school in the 65-team not making its first appearance. Phil Simms loves it.) and the tournament, from A to Z.
But really, the most important thing to know before you fill out a bracket is this link. Efficiency margin is killer for the eventual champ.
